L O L. Self-involved politicians have their priorities so screwed up. Both sides see these sIgns as a “show of strength” and believe them important for the election simply because the other side does. In reality how many people are changing their vote because of these signs? Like .001 %? Is that worth the theft charges? Might be important for a third party candidate but Dem Vs Rep? Useless eyesores.

I kind of agree. They're an eyesore and don't do anything. Ban all of them.

Also support banning them outright on public land (you wanna put one on your own lawn, more power to you)

The worst is when the election is well and truly over and you still see them on the side of the road. At what point does it become littering and we can charge the campaigns to remove them?

I wish they would just ban all of them, they look like crap and don’t sway voters.

Many people get elected due to name recognition.

They do more than you think. Subconsciously seeing the name will do a lot for months on end

Not for nothing, but removing opposing campaign signs has been around as long as campaign signs.

They don't even do anything about the ones on public property along Rt17 and GSP exit ramps

Agreed. It’s ridiculous. I’m having this same discussion with a neighbor on NextDoor. All he does is antagonize people with the same personality flaw.

Lol, "deeply concerning". Calm down man.. You lead off a title like that, i was expecting something actually concerning. On the surface, all this dude did was clean up plastic litter.

Same, I think the amount of plastic waste created by these ridiculous signs is deeply concerning. It makes me want to actively vote against a candidate if i see rows of their sign polluting the roadside.

Exactly. I remember this from the 80s

what a dipshit thing to do

If I’m not mistaken, no one is supposed to place signs on public property. That’s why there are usually no consequences when they are removed. It’s only when you remove them from private property without authorization that issues truly arise.

They really don't. Campaign signs don't sway anyone. They just have a person's name pop out. They're worthless.

I think in a local election like school board seeing a neighbor have a sign in their yard might sway people, especially when the candidates aren’t supposed to be a certain party and don’t have much press otherwise. But that’s a perfect world and not the one we live in, I think seeing campaign signs are atrocious.

FR, at least this person is removing some of them. In my area, these political signs will hang around for sometimes months after Election Day.

It's kinda funny how people overestimate their immunity to advertising.

Is this really controversial? Lol. Deeply concerning is sedition, deeply concerning is rampant inflation. Stealing signs is jerkish douchebaggery, probably in the vaguely concerning range, bordering on meh.

Campaign signs are just trash. Last election the right of way near my home had over 1000 signs (someone on the local mom board counted). It got brought up at the town meeting and caused a huge fight. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed and this time there are six signs in the right of way.

Some people still have Trump 2020 signs out… there should definitely be a limit to how long these things can be displayed

Always wondered why GOP has signs on public property. Party of lawn and order.

Yeah but the GOP guy removing the signs is the chairman who oversees the counting of the votes. He's only removing the democrat's signs.

Yes buts thats only for school board. When your only campaign strategy is putting up signs it will work because its all people get exposed to. Its exposure bias.

If you just do yard signs in a congressional campaign you're going to get crushed.

He's the elected official who is in charge of counting the votes. He's only removing democrat signs.
Why is he personally removing signs of the opposing party that he belongs to?

The GOP municipal chair who is in charge of counting the votes is ripping down only democrat signs.
I bet he voted to not post MAGA cars on this sub too.

Because he thinks it'll effect the numbers?? Most people just vote along party lines anyway. These signs are just overkill and flat out litter. It's disgusting, as if there's not already a deeply concerning amount of plastic in our landfills and oceans. Find a better way, team red and team blue.

Some of them just drew a 4 to make them into trump 2024 signs.

I'm not saying I think lawn signs are good for the environment. But an elected official who is in charge of overseeing election results is personally interfering with the election. Just because this guy's name isn't in the headlines each week shouldn't be a reason to brush off his actions. If Phil Murphy was on the side of the street ripping up GOP lawn signs, y'all would freak the fuck out.

Did you reply to your own comment?

Yea, i kinda wanted to understand why my opinion was deemed controversial, not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things, lol. Just curiosity.

Kind of just settling in to the idea that we're gonna be a far right reactionary one party state by the end of the decade. We being the US.

I don't think opposition parties will be banned, but they'll be hamstrung, functionally powerless. More of a ceremonial self aggrandizing position for Dems who hold it, and a constant forever punching bag for the right

Y'all? I'm politically apathetic, unfortunately. I'm disappointed in all of our elected officials. I would treat Murphy the same. As in, I'd think it was a braindead, waste of time considering the American populations voting habits. Dems generally vote blue and repubs red. Roadside litter isn't swaying many people. if it was reported that he was taking them down and disposing of them properly, i may give him kudos, lol. We got a crisis on our hands in NJ and the world, our politicians told us we couldn't have plastic bags and straws, but they can still put an obscene amount of plastic garbage on the roadsides? It's gross and an issue that's near to my heart.

They’re not litter if they serve a purpose, which they do.

Because you are immediately dismissive and gaslighting.
>"Calm down man... all this dude was clean up plastic litter."

Everyone is calm, and he didn't "clean up" litter, he's a republican official who oversees the election and is interfering with it by removing Democrat signs only. If he removed every sign from every candidate, that would be different. But he didn't. Your dismissive comment is controversial because you're saying that we're unreasonable to think its worth paying attention to.

Dude, you can't be serious? Litter is litter... And the usefulness of roadside political ads is dubious at best. There are better ways to get your political message out there without further harming an already precarious environmental situation.

As long as the sign convinces at least one person to vote differently, the sign has served its intended purpose and is therefore not litter.

I was being flippant because this is such a non issue, it's braindead, it's obnoxious and maybe a minor misdemeanor, but it is nowhere near approaching deeply concerning. I guess i was caught up on the language of the title. I apologize if it was perceived as gas lighting. My intention was to take a lighthearted jab at the obvious dramatized language.

I disagree. It's the 21st century. Pay for YouTube ads, go old-school and run radio/tv ads. Anything but creating a one time use item that will end up as forever trash somewhere in an ocean or landfill. We can't really afford to be this nonchalant about useless plastic anymore. They're finding nano plastics in newborn placentas and the baby's themselves.

Eh gonna have to agree to disagree here. I’m pretty far from an environmentalist.

Republicans are dirt bags? No way

I disagree. While you're hung up on the fact that maybe some the signs he removed were possibly constructed from plastic, you're missing out on the fact that a Republican who works for the government to count the votes for the upcoming election is manipulating what you see from Democrats running in this election.
You can go ahead and think paying attention to that is "flippant, a non issue, braindead, obnoxious, and not concerning" but I think our elected officials who are paid with our tax money and oversee the integrity of our elections should not be out ripping up the signs of the opposing political party, and the fact that he did is a big deal and a sign of more election interfearence to come.

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No public property is fair game, just not private property (obviously). You also have to remove the signs within I think 2 weeks of election or else the candidate incurs a fine for each sign

Agree to disagree, I'm not trying to be preachy here. I just hope, as a species, we can do better.

Well unfortunately (and I mean that 100% seriously) there are a lot of people like me who just can’t be bothered with the environment. I don’t have a good rationale for not caring, I just have so many other things going on in my life that I care about more. Maybe I’m just selfish and don’t care about how my actions affect future generations. 🤷‍♂️

Some, maybe? Lol. They're definitely majority plastic trash. That can't be argued. Them signs have to go.

There are studies out there confirming most voters vote along party lines and that the effectiveness of roadside signs are dubious at best. I'll save my deep concern for gerrymandering and the like. This, as i said, is bad optics, vaguely concerning and probably something that, in a just society, would be handled internally as a chewing out.

One world government within seven years?

Not a fucking chance. Literally, zero.

You are mistaken.

It's the human condition man, we are an inherently selfish species, i can't hold that against you.

It just irks me because environmentalism goes hand in hand with almost all of my hobbies(bird watching, wildlife photography, hiking, etc). It's a passion of mine and what I've seen over the past 10 years or so is enough to make me weep.

More than likely sneaky serfdom in 10 years. Not good either way. Oh well..

I don't care what studies say. I care what tax payer funded GOP elected officials do with freedom of speech and fair elections. Hopefully you don't have anything on your lawn, plastic or not, that Tim Troast doesn't agree with, because NJ GOP and you both appear to support his actions to remove whatever he finds irrelevant.

The way I like to think of humanity is that we are inherently good but inherently selfish at the same time. We want what’s best for others - as long as it doesn’t negatively affect ourselves. We primarily care about ourselves and our in-group, also known as our “tribe” which could be anything from your family, friend group, race, sex, political party, etc.

And the funny thing is that even though I’m aware of this, I still fall victim to it. In this case my “tribe” is my generation and possibly the generation after me who will be somewhat affected by climate change but will ultimately be dead when the real consequences start happening.

Bingo, but this dingleberry knows what they’re doing.

Eh, fair enough, agree to disagree. I don't put garbage on my lawn, that gets disposed of depending on it's ability to be recycled. Regardless, I'm part of the working class, i don't really have much of a lawn, and if you had to sort Amazon parcels for a living, you'd be concerned about plastic waste as well.

Was thinking this yesterday. Ban all lawns signs. They look so trashy

I feel the same, it's the duality of man. The whole god and the devil dynamic. We can be the most kind, yet most cruel species on this rock. Most of us are concerned with surviving the money crunch, it's out of our hands to fix everything.

I'm already sold on the idea that it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better, within my lifetime, at least (38yo). The hope is i live to see things start swinging in a positive direction before i shuffle off.

Wait wut?

Sneaky serfdom is already here. Has been accelerating for decades. Began when wages decoupled from productivity.

Ban these landfill signs.

Uh we have this already. Go get a job your background check will go over criminal history and credit score so what? Digital currency, you do know we pass around paper? Each system relies on trust. There is virtually no difference between paper money and digital currency is spends exactly the same. The only advantage with paying with hard currency is avoiding taxes.

I was working a print shop during the last Election. I cannot tell you how many people came in to make their own campaign signs for the candidates they were supporting.

I was really confused by that one. They were spending a nice chunk of money on this Candidate for a banner...for their own yard.

True enough, i guess it's getting more obvious with Jeff's warehouseburgs. So i guess it's blatant serfdom then!

You mean you don't love seeing 30 of the same exact sign all stabbed into ground next to a utility section of the road???

Actually they've got a day or two to remove them. Unfortunately nothing's done about those that leave them forever.

If he was removing them all equally.

I refuse to use Amazon

Lol you can do the same if they bother you so much

Hey! There's something we can agree on. I've yet to purchase anything from them and use none of their services. I didn't chose to move their parcels either, my employer decided to sign a contract to move their plastic waste on our planes.

I've got no evidence but I think it helps with name recognition when someone that doesn't pay attention to politics is in a voting booth. "Oh, I've heard of that guy" click.

Honestly I stare right past them like they’re not even there

You know what's disturbingly egregious? Flyers being received promoting hatred and fear instead of what they're actually campaigning for.

I think it's less about swaying voters and more about getting their names out there, reminding people that so-and-so is running for whatever office. Basically advertising.

> All he does is antagonize people with the same personality flaw.

What's the flaw?

> a nice chunk of money on this Candidate for a banner

How much do you guys charge for something like that? I always wondered how much those signs cost.

> no one is supposed to place signs on public property.

That is incorrect. You can place signs on the public right-of-way. It's how groups like Westboro Baptist get away with their crazy antics, protesting in the right of way is protected free speech but once you venture onto private property you can be pinged for trespass, same with the signs.

You have it backwards

Yeah man, its such a waste of material and energy. And I don't like how they treat their employees and prevent them from unionizing. I also find that not having an amazon account prevents me from buying useless stuff I do not need.

They are not supposed to be on state property without a permit. It’s typically not enforced though. Unfortunately it’s not a priority for most road crews to remove them until after the election because they will just pop up again the next day and they don’t have the manpower or have more important work to tend to.

Yup, every night we sort four or five 53 footers worth of plastic garbage packed in plastic and paper waste. It's not ideal or sustainable. Their treatment of their employees is a whole other dystopian thread!

How do you report these? Does it matter what level of election? BOE? Township? State?

There was a funny crudely drawn sign about “Securing the Border” before the GSP mall entrance the other day lol

It's foolish to discount the impact signs have on name recognition.

Agree to disagree, there are studies out there. I'm too reddit illiterate to link them. But the info is out there. Negligible, Americans far and large vote via party lines, and according to Yale, will regularly vote against democratic processes for their own party, and that's both sides.

Is this an ad

Really, Why not?

The WEF thinks by 2032 but I think it will be sooner.

As much as I hate the signs it did make me aware of local names. I'm not on FB and other social media.

Totally depended on materials and size but a standard 5x7ft banner would run 120-200 depending.

Is the WEF trying to sell you a bridge, too?

Disgusting republikkkans.

Wait until repubes take more rights away.

There's not gonna be 1 world government. There's too many fractures in the ruling classes. The elites of the US and the elites of Russia are not gonna join hands and sing. And I don't think the Chinese state is gonna be cracked and opened up to control by foreign capitalists either.

We can't even get along perfectly with countries that are overtly allies. And there is a large movement here in the US to drop out of NATO and/or the United Nations, which aren't even governing bodies.

You actually think every government in the world -- including countries like China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc. -- will agree within 7 - 10 years to give up their autonomy and move to a single world government?

That's absolutely absurd and not fucking happening under any circumstances. ZERO chance.

And, assuming you mean the World Economic Forum, I don't care what the WEF has to say about it, either, They don't control anything.

Good lol. Now hopefully Dems do the same and we have no stupid fucking signs anywhere. Pointless waste creation.

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The GOP is the enemy of the people.

When my dad was a Boy Scout troop leader, he would pick those ones up to use for certain projects. I always thought it was hilarious.

I’ve see a few of those popping up in that area. They’re not wrong though. With Pennsylvania to our west and New York to our north and east we are vulnerable. Borders need securing or the left lane will be clogged with people driving slow from out of state.

Republicans of reddit: why do you vote for assholes? What drives you to even consider morally reprehensible people for public office?

Isnt that just standard practice lol

"They paid me $50 bucks to plant 100 signs, they didn't tell me to spread them out."

-15 year old me back in the day.

Yes, and illegal the whole time.

I saw a handwritten 2000 mules one by the bergen town center also. Luckily someone spray painted over the "had enough vote republican" one. Amazing to me that people actually think thats an answer.

Political signs are adult peer pressure.

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They literally believe that Democrats worship Satan, want to murder babies, are conspiring to destroy Christianity, want to turn all children into trans Marxists, and and so on and so on. If you believe your enemies are literally evil then you have a lot less problem justifying anything that subverts them. Even the ones who don't believe in Satan believe that the goal of Democrats is to enforce Stalinist Communism on them. It is a belief system totally disconnected from reality.

If you want to see how they see things, watch some Fox News, and you'll dip into their upside-down world. They just do not live in the same world as the rest of us, and have achieved total "epistemic closure." Of course, they would see the Democrat view of them — proto-or-outright fascist extremists hell-bent on destroying democracy, duped into serving the interests of billionaires and corporations, almost hopelessly misled by both domestic and foreign extremists — as being equally invalid (despite it being pretty easy to document, but part of that "closure" is that they reject serious evidence, and embrace the "throw everything at the wall" style of conspiracy theorists).

This is something both parties have been guilty of for a very long time, but it hasn't been a news story until now. It's wrong, and it shouldn't be done

You're talking to a guy who supports Libertarian and The_Donald_Lite (Conservative). Don't expect much logic.

I believe that’s against the law. Arrest him.

His personality

Always love a good both sides hand wave

I kid you not there is a former councilman from Old Bridge (Razzoli) who ran for re-election in 2021, and the #1 campaign platform on his website was securing the border.

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Well then we should just lay down and take it then? Don’t talk about it, ignore it

I don’t think it’s usually been Election officials, though. They’re supposed to remain neutral.

Never has been. This is no doubt new. It's always been operatives working for the candidate until now. It's really disgusting to see this kind of stuff

I don’t have a problem with them on lawns, but when they clog up entire shoulders of the road with that crap it makes me angry. If you want to put it on your lawn, that’s fine, but I don’t think they should be allowed to fill the public land with this crap.

They are a regular reminder that I need to look up the people running for school board so I can do my part to keep the loons out.

If political parties were reversed, this would be nonstop news on Fox News, OAN, Facebook, etc.

I'm glad this is being called out and addressed. Even as a Hudson county Democrat, who was probably the most guilty of this shit; you need to be accountable for it.

The adage goes signs don't vote but they damn sure get in your opponents head

We had Shitarelli signs on the Somerville circle and outside the Bridgewater Commons for a couple of months after the last election. I don’t think anyone is getting fined.

lol ok wingnut Bircher maniac

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I live in Passaic County. Taking down the Democrat's signs does not make this person fit to be overseeing vote counting. I can't stand all of the "Had Enough Vote Republican" signs. Had enough of what? Democracy? Reproductive rights? I wish we could just do away with all of these cheap ugly political signs.

Probably is flat-earther, too, LOL.

Hahaha perfection.

You are right we need consumer privacy addressed here.

I mean, it’s Passaic County. Republicans won’t even crack 40% of the vote, no matter how many lawn signs are torn down (also, lawn signs don’t vote).

Amen, Ravi Bhalla of #hoboken is king of that spewing partisan hate in a local election. An automatic no vote for me!

They need to start doing what Clifton does to garage sale holders. They took you $30 if you put up a sign on a pole and you have to show up in court if they have court fee as well!!

When I asked the city about the illegal political signs they said "we don't do anything about him is because kids move them around."

What's a BS excuse for not doing their job!

I actually saw a truck driving down Route 46 ones with an extended arm and a bucket on the end. They were mounting the political signs and the telephone pole 12 feet up so no one would take them down. There's no way in hell is legal for them to drive that down the highway or put them on the telephone poles!!

Who's up for going out and cleaning them up!?

I always vote against the people that have the legal signs up!

They don't believe any of that, they are just incredibly and inexplicably stupid. Self-delusional trying to convince themselves that they aren't the villains, but they 100% are. What would Jesus do? Condemn Republicans and vote Democrat, absolutely.

I have literally seen these things blocking signs and fire hydrants!

Not to mention if the paper it's off to me of that wire mesh thing there that can be hit by somebody mowing along. Especially those guys on the highway that use those big mowers they wouldn't even see it when they're driving over the grass.

Ell oh Ell, i love how trying to be objective has become this mortal sin. I identify as left, btw.

I feel like that was a practical argument

republi-TRAITORS are the slime under the scum at the bottom of a sewage pit

what’re you talking about

Damn! I don't like anyone that much...not even family...LOL

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Why is it this guy gets away with it and if I did the same thing my butt would be in jail???? Hmmm, sound like another politician?

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I think a substantial proportion of them do believe that, or enough of it for them to look the other way. Even the "moderate, educated" GOP I have spoken to in person seem to believe quite a bit of it — not the Satanism, but the culture war stuff about immigration, gender identity, Communism, etc. They might not have 100% of their minds corrupted by the brain worms of right-wing media, but they have enough...

You mean securing On The Border?

They're all beholding to the teacher's union, doesn't make a diff who is on the boards.

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plot twist...trost has stock in a signage company, and removes them so his opponents have to spend more on replacements. Double win for him...

Lol. He's concerned about signs. LOL.

These weren't on public property, they were on the property of the carwash that you see in the surveillance video. Troast claims that it's a misunderstanding and that the carwash said he could take them down, but tbh that makes absolutely no sense because why would he be involved at all? If the carwash didn't want them there, they could take them down themselves. He did it because he thought he could get away with it and then got caught by surprise when they called him out on it.

> They don't believe any of that

I've seen people literally using some of those exact talking points to defend this specific guy, and to attack democratic candidates for the school board in Pompton Lakes. Clearly not all republicans believe this, but let's not pretend it's entirely made up.

They will in Troast's town, which I expect is his main concern here as leader of the "republican club". Pompton Lakes has a republican mayor, council, and majority on the school board (and I believe that may be a clean sweep for them after this election too). IIRC the town overall went trump both times, and is a reliable source of support for republican senate and congressional candidates. Tbh, a significant number of those people in local positions are very moderate republicans, and in some cases I think it's a "flag of convenience" since it's pretty close to impossible to get elected if you're not carrying an "R" next to your name. There have been more extreme candidates creeping in though, which is probably inevitable when you play that game.

You can always tell a “conservative” by how easily triggered they get by reality.

I was coming here to say the same. I disagree with anyone destroying or taking property of someone else but signs are so dumb. They are just for virtue signaling regardless of which party you support.

I saw one on a 17 off ramp a month or so ago. Only time in my life I've ever contemplated getting out of my car and tearing a sign down, but it was rush hour and I didn't want to hold up traffic.

I've had enough with this "secure the border" dogwhistle. I get it, you hate immigrants. Well, those people can go fuck themselves because without immigration, I wouldn't exist.

Yeah, that’s hilarious hon.

Oh the irony…

Serious question time: there are a couple of Healy signs that are in protected land in Wharton State Forest. Is that even legal? I am so sick and tired of seeing signs everywhere. One place I would love to not see them is in state parks and forests. Can we petition to have them removed or contact anyone about it?

This is a very disconnected from reality post my gosh 😂

My dad has at least 60 signs in our garage. From open house to construction ahead to vote for me! Dont put shit on other peoples property

Turnabout is fair play

These signs are allowed but plastic bags are banned, ugh.

Yea, it's a grift to put the plastic burden on the consumer and remove all or most culpability from the groups that can actually enact true, meaningful change.

Midterms are not the same as presidential elections. Trump is not running for Midterms.

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Triggered? ha ha. No we are sitting back waiting to win son.

Lol you were sitting back waiting to win” the last 2 election cycles.

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