With election season now firmly in the rearview mirror, election signs of all shapes and sizes must now return to their natural habitat; a storage container for another four years.
City of Grande Prairie Returning Officer Arlene Karbashewski says the municipality does have bylaws in place that mandate the clean-up of all election-related material, so residents will still likely see glimpses of the municipal election for just a little while longer.
“Candidates have a couple of days to go and clean up their campaign paraphernalia, such as their election signs, and I’m pretty confident we will see the city sign free by the end of this week, if not before next week [begins],” she adds.
Karbashewski says with the 2021 election season being unexpectedly long and busy, the roadsides around the city saw their fair share of signage jostling for real estate. She says the sheer length of the double campaign period likely didn’t help matters either when it comes to things like sign fatigue.
“The number of candidates on both of the ballots, in general, is unprecedented, and the number on our ballot alone was significantly higher than we’d ever seen,” she says.
“Of course we had the federal election signs out just prior to the municipal election, so I think residents have seen election signs for a lot longer than they’re used to,” she laughs.
The next scheduled election in Alberta, a provincial election, will not take place until 2023.