It’s that time of year again.  The campaign yard signs began to appear a few weeks ago, but now, they’re all over the place.  Some people are enthusiastic yard signers.  Their lawns are littered with numerous signs, all of which usually means they’re pretty active in some political party.  I imagine the signs are  expensive. I don’t know, because I’ve never been a political activist.  But I do know that a yard sign will never persuade me to vote for a particular candidate.  Campaign yard signs are a futile effort. 

 The question has been posed to various political experts:  Do yard signs really work?  The consensus seems to be that they raise awareness about coming elections.  Campaign yard signs  may motivate people to  get out and vote.  Other than that, they don’t actually influence voters one way or another.  

 Why do some people litter their lawns with numerous yard signs?  It’s speculated that it may be to simply annoy the opposing party.  Sort of an in-your-face type thing.  See here you liberal/conservative fools.  This is who I’m voting for, not your stupid candidates. If that’s the motivation, it  works. Many people  are annoyed by yard signs.  Why would that be? Obviously, because they may not agree with your politics. But also  because they’re ugly.  There is nothing artistic or  aesthetically pleasing about a yard sign. 

 We’ve been asked once or twice to let some friend or acquaintance to post campaign signs in our yard. Reluctantly, we agreed, just because we liked the person, and didn’t want to hurt their feelings.  But six or seven signs?  Never. Just as I dislike talking politics with strangers, I don’t want to advertise my political leanings to the entire town.  How I vote is my own business.  And sometimes,  I change my mind right before I go to the polls.  I’d hate to have a yard sign for a candidate who gets arrested for drunk driving right before election day. 

 The one advantage I can see for yard signs is their predictive value.  During the 2016 election, there were Trump signs all over town, even though the polls predicted he would lose.  So far, I’m seeing an equal number of Trump/ Biden signs.  But the Trump ones were out earlier.  I guess they were left over from the last election.  But it’s early yet.  Yard signs may be an  exercise  in futility.  But they could be an important bellwether.