Do election signs still matter? This political science professor says yes

The municipal election is almost here and for the past few weeks we've seen the faces of candidates on social media and more traditionally on people's lawns through election signs. Now in a day and age when people can get information on their candidates online, we asked an expert one question. Do election signs still matter? They do, but yes with every new medium that comes online the older older media become less important to some extent but newspapers were it and then radio came around and still newspapers that were around then TV came around and then newspapers and radio are still around so with every new layer of medium or media the old ones are still around they still play a role but not necessarily as dominant so election signs will not disappear again campaigns like it. It serves as a way to interact with people, but also it's part of the door-to-door canvassing. So it's not just candidates talking to voters. At the end, they say, would you mind if we put an election sign on your front lawn? Again, that helps to solidify the support and it demonstrates to the campaign team, you know, if this person is willing to have us hammer a sign on their front lawn, that means that they like us. So it is part of the campaign process. Do you ever see a future wherein we'll do away with election signs? I do not, because in some cases it's the only way for candidates to get their message out. They cannot all go to everybody's door. The volunteers are able to post messages or to post signs on lawns if, again, residents are willing. I do not see them disappearing. Again, their role and their impact can diminish in weight, but their visibility will never disappear.