Portsmouth NH Homes Condos Real Estate

Nov 6, 2007 here in Portsmouth New Hampshire is Election Day, as I know it is in many towns around the country. 

I'm glad today is finally here, not just because we have the opportunity to exercise our right to vote and have a say in how our local towns are going to be run, but because all those campaign signs will be coming down very soon.

 

 

 

Here in Portsmouth, anywhere there's a couple square feet of city-owned land, you'll find that space crammed with campaign signs from all the candidates running for one office or another.  And that means that just about every intersection you come to, that's all you can see.  And it's an ugly sight, in my opinion.



Over the last couple of weeks, I've had several sets of out of state buyers here looking into buying homes here in the Portsmouth area.  Let me tell you, showing them the beauty of this area, while trying to look over and through all those signs makes it a little difficult at times.

One of my buyers told me about a novel way his hometown deals with campaign signs, and I loved it. 

His town prohibits those signs on any town/city-owned property, and they can only be placed on privately-owned property only with the permission of the property owner.  AND those signs cannot be out except for the two weeks leading up to their elections, AND they have to come down the day after the elections.

I LOVE THAT APPROACH!!

 

I realize that all those signs are likely the single best way for candidates to have their names be seen, but there are plenty of other ways to reach voters.  Portsmouth is not that so big that the personal touch wouldn't work.  We have candidates' forums, there are flyers, phone calls, emails, newspaper ads, and more.  The local Portsmouth Herald has done some very nice write-ups on each of the candidates, giving them the opportunity to share information about themselves and what they bring to the table.

I would love to see some kind of ordinance in place similar to what one of my buyers told me his town has in place. 

Those signs would still be in plenty of places, but they wouldn't be littering up the intersections like they do, and they wouldn't be so junky looking either, if they were only able to be placed in the yards of the property-owners who wanted them there.

 

 

This would mean that those running for some kind of office might actually personally connect with more voters, too, as they'd have to talk to voters and property owners to ask if they could put their signs up.  What a novel idea!

Anyway, I'm glad today is election day here in Portsmouth, and I'd bet there are plenty of other residents who will be glad to see all those signs come down.

Having said all that about those signs - GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!!

                                     

If you're a Portsmouth NH resident and registered voter, you can find your voting locations here.  This is a street list that shows you what ward you live in and where you voting location is.