Sharp-eyed observers may have noticed a new campaign sign sprouting on lawns around town yesterday. I designed these new signs after getting numerous requests from people who wanted to show they were planning to split their tickets. The “split ticket”sign, which finally came in Friday, still has my name in the big print, but it also has the names of all five town board candidates below. See sign here. (This is a pdf file that may or may not open in your browser. Also, don’t worry about the typo in one candidate’s name, that has been fixed in the real sign!)
As you can see, there are checkboxes next to each name. My name is pre-checked with a large red check mark, but the other names are unchecked until I ascertain the homeowner’s preference. I then check the desired boxes with an indelible marker before erecting the sign.
The results have been interesting. While many have opted to stay with their party line for the town board, others have not. One voter after seeing the candidates at the college forum this week, elected to go with one from column A (Democrat Sally Wood) and one from column B (Republican David Dwyer).
I asked him if he was sure before I marked it, because I didn’t think there would be much demand for that combination. Another took Wood and Lavigne, which seems to make more sense from a philosophical point of view, but who knows?
I encountered a lot of voters who were still unsure about their town board choices. I think the large number of candidates in both races has made it difficult for the casual voter to keep track. With a little over two weeks to go, the public seems to be just starting to decipher the Supervisor’s race. When you ask them about the five town board candidates, however, they throw up their hands.
I have been told by many people that they don’t really know anything about the non-incumbents, and don’t feel comfortable making a choice yet. Perhaps the profiles in this coming week’s LC News will help people make up their minds.
Some have wondered why David Dwyer’s name appears on the sign twice. That is of course, because David is running on two different teams, the Republicans and the Incumbents (who call themselves Common Sense). At the forum this week, he clarified that his first allegiance is to the incumbent team, but I believe he will accept votes on the Republican line, which is where all my voters have preferred to vote so far.
There have also been some bullet voters, who only want to check one name for town board. I allow this as that is a valid strategy in the voting booth as well. If you really want one candidate to win, you take a small chance that your second vote may be the one vote that defeats your first choice.
Finally, my friend Ron Scott put his sign up without any town board candidates checked. He says he will tell people that his message is, “Corrin can work with any of these people.” Thanks Ron, and thanks for your kind letter to the editor that was in the LC News this week!
So why not get in on the fun? If you are a Strong Supporter and have your mind made up on the rest of the ticket, drop me a line and I will deliver a new sign immediately. Some people have wanted to keep my classic blue sign as well, but if you are willing to exchange, that will allow someone else to get the classic sign, as there is currently a waiting list.
I only ordered 100 of the classic signs and just 50 of the split signs, so you better hurry. (Hey, these signs aren’t cheap!) Order your’s soon, as these are sure to be collector’s items!
The new signs are a lot of fun, but they may also may help predict the race. So keep an eagle-eye out to see where the independent Strong voter may be going!
