The saturation of political signage across Albany in the lead-up to
last Saturday’s election and on polling day has come under fire from
voters. It comes after Liberal candidate Trevor Cosh was
criticised on Tuesday by Labor opponent Peter Watson for an “American-
style” campaign.
Both Nationals candidate Robert Sutton and
returned member for the seat of Albany Mr Watson have called for all
forms of political advertising to be banned on election day — and it
seems from the big response to the issue on the Albany Advertiser’s
Facebook page, many voters would agree.
Michelle Irving posted on
our page that the amount of signage was “visual pollution”, while Jill
Larsen said it was “absurd overkill”.
Jodi McFarlane said an
“incredible amount” of paper had been wasted, while Trish Khoo said she
returned to sender all the political mail she received.
Mr Watson
and Mr Sutton don’t disagree with our Facebook followers, believing
voters should not be bombarded with how-to-vote cards and political
signage as they walk into polling places. Both men believe
political material on election day should be restricted, with Mr Sutton
saying at least 20 people were handing out material at the Mt Lockyer
Primary polling station alone on Saturday.
“We were having people coming up bloody grumpy, and understandably so,” Mr Sutton said.
“Don’t hassle people, just let them go and make their decision without the hassle.”
Mr Watson said political parties could save money and voters could enjoy election day without being saturated with advertising.
“I’d be quite happy if people went to a polling booth without having to run the gauntlet,” he said.
Both
men called for more controls to be placed on political signage and
letterbox advertising in the weeks and months leading up to elections.
WA
Electoral Commission communications manager Justin Harbord said
questions had been raised about the amount of signage in Albany, and a
minor controversy had arisen after some signs were erected too early.
He said the WAEC would review the issue, but believed a blanket ban was not necessary.
Mr
Cosh said he would welcome clearer guidelines from the WAEC on
advertising and, as far as he knew, he had not broken any rules and most
of his signage had been taken down the day after the election.
