An Esquimalt councillor’s proposal to ban candidate election signs on public land has once again found insufficient support around the council table.
Esquimalt voted 4-2 last week to reject Coun. Ken Armour’s proposal to have staff examine the possibility of banning election signs on public land, with councillors citing concerns about incumbent advantage, low voter engagement, and a possible conflict of interest of councillors voting on how elections are to be conducted in the municipality.
Armour’s independent motion introduced to council agenda in early June said that advances in technology and digital media now allow candidates “significant other opportunities to market themselves with voters and in more insightful ways than simply putting their name on a sign.”
This is not Armour’s first attempt — he had advocated for election sign removals in a previous council.
Armour, who is also concerned about the aesthetic and environmental impacts of election signs, quoted Les Emmerson’s song, Signs in his opening argument at council.
“We’ve got three elections coming up,” he said. “All these are going to result in a number of signs all over municipal property. They are, I would argue, a bit of an eyesore.”
While Coun. Darlene Rotchford agreed that election signs can be an eyesore and was not against limiting the number of signs in Esquimalt, she didn’t feel like it was a priority for the township. “When I look at staff time, I just feel like this is just not something that I’m willing to make important right now.”
Coun. Tim Morrison said that he wasn’t aware of any complaints of election signs lodged to Esquimalt. “People like the reminder,” he said. “If we didn’t have signs in public areas, we’d probably have very low engagement.”
Morrison said he was “extremely uncomfortable” with discussing any changes to rules on campaigning that might benefit an incumbent.
There are also other factors restricting the total number of signs that might go up in an election, such as campaign financing limits, he said.
Coun. Duncan Cavens said that restricting signage to private property would end up favouring people who live in homes with lawns, which account for only around half of Esquimalt’s population.
While there are currently no options in the capital region, a number of local election candidates banded together to ship used signs to Vancouver for recycling after the 2022 municipal elections to reduce their environmental footprint, Cavens said.
Mayor Barb Desjardins, who supported Armour’s motion the last time it came to council, said that council appears to have a majority opinion on keeping election sign rules as is.
Desjardins said it would be helpful to see academic studies that could determine whether election signs are useful in increasing voter turnout.
“It truly is a challenge to get people engaged and turning out,” she said, adding that the previous election turnout was “appallingly low.”
Andrea Boardman, the only councillor to support Armour’s motion, suggested that it would be helpful for designated municipal spaces for election signs instead of allowing signs to be planted on all public land.
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