Today is special election day, and community activists and the District’s political press are already ruing a discouragingly low turnout. The candidates for this at-large D.C. Council seat, of course, have been doing their darnedest to alert voters to their message, and get their base to the polls. And, thanks to the internet, more coverage of this election has been available than in previous regular primary or general elections. In addition to increased coverage made possible from blogs and websites of traditional media, sites like Greater Greater Washington, the Georgetown Dish, and the DCist’s Martin Austermuhle’s invaluable resource, Four 26, a blog entirely devoted this election, have offered engaged District voters the chance to be truly informed about their choices in this contest.
But one tradition in District electioneering has been notably scare this time around. In fact, when I noticed the sign below on Park Rd., NW up on Mount Pleasant, it threw me. With its gaudy color scheme, I mistook it for a sign advertising one of those “fly by night” easy money scams that blight some neighborhoods. In D.C. elections past, I wouldn’t have found it out of the ordinary. Historically, come D.C. election season, campaign posters from every candidate – even the less competitive contestants – hung from seemingly every street sign and lamppost across town. (In 1993’s D.C. Council Chair special election, Vince Orange still plastered the District with posters after he was bounced from the ballot.)
Years ago – and which for which campaign now eludes my memory – I was working a GOTV phone bank. Part of our script asked the callee, are you aware that an election is coming up (the contest, like today’s, was expected to suffer low turnout)? The spry old lady on the other end of the line exclaimed, “How could I not be? There’s signs on every post in town!”
So, that tradition not only celebrated the limited voting rights that District residents can enjoy, but it alerted residents that an election was coming up, and reminded them that they could make their voice heard. And while it wasn’t necessarily a reliable indicator of a candidate’s polling strength – yard signs are better, they point to real voters at home – it has been a crucial vehicle for boosting name ID for candidates in down ballot races that didn’t garner much media attention – think ANC or school board – and underdog challengers whose incumbent opponents reaped reams of coverage every day.
That tradition began to draw groans from from the civic minded-NIMBY types – the same sorts that heartily applaud stunts like getting arrested for the cause of “voting rights,” but lament too much democracy in practice. (I waded into the debate nearly a decade ago in DC Watch’s “the Mail,” citing the District’s limited democracy and the First Amendment.) In recent elections, campaign street signs have been less visible, but I can’t figure out why. Maybe having Earth Day fall in the middle of the campaign caused pangs of guilt; maybe it’s testament to the influence that young, environmentally conscious, bike-riding “myopic little twits” have exercised in this race by drafting a candidate to to their liking, Bryan Weaver, into a run, a new generation of voters who have been wired into this race via the internet. (Weaver signs were more visible in his unsuccessful challenge to Council Member Jim Graham in last September’s Ward One primary than for this special election.) Vince Orange, a veteran of D.C. elections has been the exception. His signs have been posted unchallenged in large swaths of the District diamond.
(The sign above hypes candidate Tom Brown, a Ward 8 Democrat who has struggled to gain attention. And, as his website’s address asks, “Why Tom Brown?” Well, in addition to the generic testimonials – more than one of whom responds “Why Tom Brown? Why not Tom Brown?” – he has staked out strong social conservative stances, unique in this contest.)
Special election day has crept up on me. When I wasn’t immersing myself in coverage gleaned online, I almost forgot a campaign was being waged. I miss the signs. I hope they sprout up in force in D.C. elections to come.
