HOPEFULS USE SIGNS TO LURE VOTERS

Political signs fill yards during election years, covering some lawns as effectively as autumn leaves.

Landowners make their choices clear, and candidates hope their names are seen by constituents.

Area printers benefit from the proliferation of signs. Glenn Reeves, owner of Horizon Screen Printing Inc., rapidly rattled off names of 10 candidates who patronized his business in the August primary.

Those 10 and others made up about 30 percent of his summer business, and many are repeat customers with the looming general election.

~~~The orders stay fairly similar from year to year -- politicians lean toward 14-by-22-inch cardboard yard signs in conservative red, white and blue.

Most candidates don't have a particular design in mind, leaving composition up to the printing company.

Canedy Sign Co. of Sikeston, a large supplier of political signs, printed signs for candidates in at least eight counties this year.

Canedy owner Ted Martin said tastes haven't changed much over the past few years.

Some want simple black and white cardboard, but it doesn't cost more to add one color.

~Martin said that he has done some odd colors, but that costs more. He has done signs in all the colors of the rainbow.

"We used to do a lot of day-glo lettering on black background, but it is not as popular now," he said.

Cape County Democratic Chairman Rick Althaus said money plays perhaps the largest role in sign design.

Added color means added cost, and politicians try to get the most exposure for their campaign dollars, he said.

Still, there is room for more creativity in campaign signs, Althaus said.

Different formats, colors and typefaces attract attention. The Southeast Missouri University political science professor mentioned one judicial candidate who printed his signs tall, narrow and sideways.

Even though they were difficult to read, they caught constituents' eyes, he said.

~"That's very important in local races," Althaus said, adding:

~"Name recognition is more important lower on the ballot. People don't pick out an office to vote for. They pick out a name."

Cape County Republican Chairman Steve Wilson agreed, noting that senatorial candidates are more likely to attract media attention than, for example, the local recorder of deeds.

The more signs a local candidate has in yards, the better his chances of being remembered on Election Day.

Wilson also mentioned the "yard sign theory," which says hundreds of yard signs springing up a week or two before the election are more effective than long-term ones firmly planted on voters' lawns.

~"You try to get several people out contacting a number of their friends about putting signs in their yards," he said. ~"After you get several who say yes, you put them all up at once. For the candidates in larger races, people will call the local campaign headquarters and ask for signs."

And, when it is all over on Nov. 8, the signs can be preserved for future elections or simply destroyed.