Petition to end election sign madness

A coreflute might help you remember one candidate or one party, but it doesn’t help you find out who all the parties are. I used the online electoral system and ballot papers to see who was camapigning and who I might like to vote for. The signs did nothing to help my research, they simply cluttered our verges and tempted me to go off-roading a few times [though I did find self control thankfully]. Coreflutes hinted nothing of their policies, it was all done through hours of scratching around Facebook pages and websites. I was often surprised that the short catch phrases on the signs were in stark contrast to what they really stood for, when I dug a little deeper. You could almost call it false advertising, but I’d say there are probably no rules to prohibit them putting whatever they want.
Why don’t we ban the things and find somewhere for them all to advertise on an equal footing? How about a big notice board adjacent the entrance to every mall, with an A3 space to allow every party to “advertise” their wares? That way the people who are interested in politics can stop and have a gander as long as they want, without disrupting traffic. The rest of us can live blissfully unaware that an election is even on until D-day, when we scramble to the queue at 9:00 to shovel a sausage sandwich down, vote and get on with our lives.
Just as man used to be able to watch “Ad free” TV, so should it be with politics.

wildturkeycanoe said :

What can a sign with just enough space to put a candidate name and party really convey in the few seconds a motorist driving past sees? The internet is where we learn what candidates have to offer, not a six word colourful sign.
Be rid of the things and give the money to charity, that’d buy my vote.

Recognition.

That’s pretty much all they’re intended to do.

It’s then up to the punter if they want to research the candidates who smiled to them on their drive home.

wildturkeycanoe said :

What can a sign with just enough space to put a candidate name and party really convey in the few seconds a motorist driving past sees? The internet is where we learn what candidates have to offer, not a six word colourful sign.
Be rid of the things and give the money to charity, that’d buy my vote.

Someone driving past might see the sign and later go and research the candidate online. Without the sign the majority of voters may not know that a candidate exists. There are only so many people a candidate can talk to individually and its a good bet that a lot of the information stuffed into letter boxes gets binned before anyone reads it. Banning corflutes would further entrench the established parties, and I for one want minor parties and independents to have a chance so as to keep maximum pressure on the majors to produce good policy and governance.

What can a sign with just enough space to put a candidate name and party really convey in the few seconds a motorist driving past sees? The internet is where we learn what candidates have to offer, not a six word colourful sign.
Be rid of the things and give the money to charity, that’d buy my vote.

While I agree with Dan Miller’s points regarding the ugliness of roadside election signs, and the mess they create, I believe they are a necessary evil in the ACT. As a former ACT candidate in federal and local elections, I do not agree that restricting signs to 20 per party/independent will help to even the playing field during elections.

Compared to television/radio advertising, and mailouts, corflutes provide minor parties/independents with a relatively cost-effective means of promoting a candidate or policy. Printing and erecting signs requires time and effort and volunteers, not tonnes of cash, and that’s where minor parties like the Liberal Democrats have a fighting chance against the majors.

It would be great if every Canberra voter took the time to visit every party/independent’s website to familiarise themselves with candidates and policies, but that is simply not the case. Thus, signs are required in order to attract the attention of apathetic voters, and remind them that it’s not just a three party race.

This is just another way the major parties can get ahead.
Why not ban major parties from having coreflutes. They’re the ones who are actually spending tax payer money on them, clogging up the green areas and playing dirty by getting members to steal/damage the competitions coreflutes – making a mess and yet again wasting more money.
Why not let this be a way for minor parties and independents to be seen with their limited personal resources and ability to campaign without tax payer money?
Did you know each ACT vote over 4% gives a party about $8 in comparison to the other states only get about $2…because aparently it’s 4x harder to campaign in the ACT.

I will not be signing this petition.

I encourage anyone who believes in free speech and in not disadvantaging independents and small parties to not sign this petition.

The root cause of the problem of too many corflutes is unintended consequences of the crazy paving that is our existing electoral system. Banning corflutes is just putting more bandaids on a system that is stacked against smaller parties.

The reasons include:
(a) Robson rotation on ballot papers – so members within parties jostle amongst themselves for notice;
(b) the ban on canvassing within 100 metres of a polling place – which makes it hard for independents and small parties to get their platforms and candidates noticed. One in every ten voters surveyed by the ACT electoral commission at the 2016 poll said that they found the lack of how to vote cards to be a problem. One in ten voters is not a small number when you consider that marginal candidates are elected on just a few votes;
(c) the $8 of taxpayers money for every first preference vote that goes to parties and candidates reaching 4% of the vote encourages candidates to jockey for the money – this advantages the larger parties. Around about $1.7 million went mostly to the major parties. This is the most generous system in Australia – it should go back to $2 and there should be no 4% threshold, so minor party candidates stand a chance.

Clean up this mess before striking out one of the few remaining avenues for free speech. A bit of clutter at election time every four years is not too much to ask when we are talking about choosing your representatives.

Tara Cheyne MLA said :

This is being looked at as part of a committee inquiry into the 2016 Election and the Electoral Act.

Thanks for the links Tara 🙂

I have just sent in a submission to the Inquiry for consideration. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Sincerely,
Dan

Im more disgusted by the major parties accepting an increase in taxpayer funding from $2 to $8 per vote from the last election. How on earth is this justified!!!??? Money from rate payers to fund more stupid corflutes which aren’t cheap. These signs are lazy, ugly, environmentally damaging and treat the voters with contempt.

Great idea Dan, I agree that the electoral signs should have the same restrictions as other movable signs, and not be in a class of their own. I hate driving in Canberra around ACT election time. This unnecessary roadside mess is blot on the landscape and a dangerous distraction for drivers. There are currently NO restrictions on the number of signs, only where they cannot be placed. If politicians need to be visible, I’m sure there are much better ways to achieve this. You have my full support.