Alberta election: Want a good sign for how a riding will vote? Look to the lawns
Global News
According to analysis from Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University, the number of signs on front lawns is an indication of how a riding will vote.
It’s a sure sign that an election is underway: campaign signs coating public boulevards and front lawns across Alberta.
But there is a debate whether election signs make a difference as parties try to garner precious votes in what polls show is set to be a tight race to form Alberta’s next government.
Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the campaigns sure think so.
“The parties spent a lot of money and volunteer time in collecting the data, putting up the signs, paying for the signs, taking the signs down,” Bratt said.
In the riding of Calgary-Cross, United Conservative Party incumbent candidate Mickey Amery said there has been an increase in requests for his campaign’s signs.
“It signifies strong support in our communities,” Amery told Global News. “We’ve had a tremendous uptake in our signs; I think we’ve installed 1,000 signs so far, and we’re only getting started.”
Alberta’s NDP has also reported a significant increase in lawn sign requests from voters province-wide compared to the 2019 provincial election.
“In 2019, we only had 7,000 lawn signs coming into it; this time we’ve got more than 60,000 lawn signs,” Calgary-Peigan NDP candidate Denis Ram said.