Candidate Yard Signs Proliferate Along Streets Of Closter, New Jersey

CLOSTER, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Nothing says campaign season like the candidate yard sign, and Closter, New Jersey residents say it has reached the point of sign saturation.

As CBS2's Hazel Sanchez reported, one local leader said he has never seen anything like the current sign proliferation.

It is a sign of the time. Campaign season means support can be seen sprouting from the ground almost everywhere one turns in some suburban towns.

"Once your mind's made up, I think that's it, so it doesn't matter how many signs are there," one Closter woman said.

But in the Bergen County borough, locals said the campaign sign saturation in the center of town has gone overboard.

"It's obnoxious. You look at the names; the photos -- it takes everybody's eyes off the roads," said Myron Radowych of Closter.

Along Homans Avenue, Piermont Road, and Vervalen Street, there was a seemingly endless call for votes along the parkways.

Arthur Brown Dolson, a 45-year Closter resident and the newly-appointed borough administrator, said he has never before seen so many campaign signs.

"Five hundred percent increase, if not more," Dolson said. "We actually, quote-unquote, call it the crazy time – and I've had enough of it."

But the signs will not necessarily disappear after Election Day. Campaign signs are considered free speech, and are exempt from temporary sign ordinances that require removal after 30 days.

Thus, the campaign workers who put up these signs will not face any fines if they don't take them down right away. But the borough administrator said if they are not gone by this weekend, he will send out crews to take care of them.

It appears that lawn signs do little to sway votes. A 2015 study led by Donald Green of Columbia University found that lawn signs increase voter share by just 1.7 percent.