News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Political signs, like the ones seen here on Thursday, are becoming more abundant in Alpena, but some people think they do little to help a candidate.

ALPENA — In Alpena, it is nearly impossible to drive a block without seeing a campaign sign of some sort.

There are signs for candidates at the national, state, and local level, and many homemade signs with witty phrases.

Political experts, however, say the number of signs a candidate has around town may not impact the success of the candidate.

Jesse Osmer, who is the legislative aide for state Rep. Sue Allor, R-Wolverine, has run many campaigns, including a successful one for former Congressman Dan Benishek. Osmer said the best way to promote a candidate is to go door to door and talk to voters. Signs can paint a misleading picture of who is winning and losing.

“Signs don’t vote,” Osmer said. “I have done a lot of elections where the opponent has had a lot more signs out, but still lost by a significant amount. A lot of people put out signs out of a sense of obligation to someone they know, and some don’t put signs out because they don’t want to disrupt the neighborhood or upset friends and family. You never get a clear picture of how an election is going based on signs.”

Alpena County Democratic Party Vice Chairman Mike McGirr believes signs have limited impact on the election, but, for some local candidates, it could help with name recognition.

That, he said, is important this year, because the party hasn’t been out knocking on doors and recruiting voters in person because the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, candidates and activists are relying on signs, mailings, and social media.

“There might be a little more influence from the signs than in years past,” McGirr said. “There are some voters who will vote because they remember seeing a name, or liked a certain name. Really, though, I don’t care how many Trump or Biden signs there are, it isn’t going to impact that election much.”

The local Democratic party didn’t open a field office this year, but has still had several events at which supporters could pick up signs for most of the party’s candidates. McGirr said one such event is scheduled for Saturday at Mich-e-ke-wis Park in Alpena.

“Every time we have had one, the signs go very fast, and people are in a rush to get them,” McGirr said. “I do think there are more signs out this year than there was in 2016, but the candidates didn’t spend a lot on signs, so we paid to have some made. This year, they invested more.”

Osmer said he doesn’t think there are as many Republicans putting signs out, although he added it has been hard to keep them in stock at the Republican Party office on Ripley Boulevard.