War. Theft. Destruction.

And that is just in Forsyth county’s bi-annual election cycle. The “sign wars” are in full gear. Big signs, little signs, pretty signs, ugly signs. They are on state roads, county roads, subdivisions, and businesses. They are everywhere. The names that they proclaim run together after awhile. A candidate named Beeb-ton, Knox-ering, or McStephens would do pretty well without ever posting a single sign.

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To what extent do you feel signs affect your decision on election day? Not at all Very Much Somewhat View results

The accusations fly that one candidate’s camp is destroying or stealing signs from another candidate. Are the accusations true? Of course they are. More often than not, it is the supporters of the candidates rather than the candidates themselves doing the despicable deeds (though not always). But the sign wars are real and occurring every election. The local paper buzzes with stories about the problems of theft and destruction. Channel 2 News even did a piece on sign theft and vandalism.

We have a sheriff’s office that is empowered to enforce the campaign sign rules when he himself is a candidate with his own signs. Ironic, isn’t it? The fox guarding the hen house analogy comes to mind. But not to worry - the Board of Elections is monitoring the obvious conflict of interest.

Campaign signs are the political kudzu of the election landscape. They are like gray hairs – you pluck one out and three new ones take its place. And they’re expensive. It takes an army of volunteers to get them distributed.

Some are colorful. At least the REALLY expensive ones are. I have not seen any signs with more than two colors (red and blue seems to be the favorite choice). I’ve seen a few single colored ones (Pickering and Sweeney both sport blue). Tom Knox is the only candidate breaking out from the red, white, and/or blue pattern with his green signs. Some of the signs even seem eerily similar to one another. Debra Bernes, Johnny Isakson, Herman Cain, and Linda Ledbetter all have signs that look the same except for the name on them (blue background, white letters, red background footer).

All of this emphasis on signs seems silly doesn’t it? I mean, surely the population at large is not going to cast their vote based on the number of signs they have seen, are they? Don’t be so sure. If they didn’t work, candidates wouldn’t use them. Conventional wisdom says that they build name recognition. Even if your IQ is the same as your shoe size, put out enough signs for people to see your name over and over again, and you will get votes. Crazy.

Somebody must have asked for it - someone who did not know how to cast their ballot. Who exactly, in a moment of confusion and desperation, asked God to give them a sign? He gave us thousands. We can’t say that God isn’t generous. At least He has a sense of humor. And that makes me wonder - who is He backing in this election cycle? I am not sure, but I can say that I won’t be asking for any more signs.