To the Editor:
Thank you for taking the time to consider my thoughts on our local elections.
I am grateful to live in a community that has so many people who are interested and willing to be involved with our local elections and campaigns. While I know that they are an eye-sore for some, I really appreciate the signs that go up each year — not for clutter, but for what they represent: neighbors engaging in civic life and expressing diverse viewpoints — reminding us that we are a community that has a diversity of thought and ideas on how best to run that community, and that we trust the democratic process to work even when our own preferred outcomes do not occur. I have been impressed in the 11 years since my family moved here by the way our community often galvanizes itself, whether around CVS trying to buy Dave’s Autobody, the proposed Hotel off of Route 29 and many other issues— and now, a school referendum that will shape our community for decades.
As one of the local leaders for a campaign this fall, I have taken an even more keen interest in and awareness of the signs – where they are located, when they turn up, and sadly, when they disappear as well. I was dismayed starting on Friday, October 17th, when many individuals of the group I am leading reported signs being taken from the places they were put up.
While some see taking down signs as a political tactic or a nuisance to their rivals, it is in fact against the law in the state of New Jersey. Earlier this year, John Albanese – a Readington committeeman (Readington, Hunterdon County) pleaded guilty to stealing signs after failing to get the charges thrown out in NJ Superior Court. As FIRE (Foundation for Individuals Rights and Expression) and the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of NJ concur, signs are an important part of our first amendment rights and sign theft can be seen as equivalent to stealing someone’s voice. Free speech is not partisan; we should all defend it, especially in election season. As Frederick Douglass spoke in Boston in 1860, “No right was deemed by the fathers of the Government more sacred than the right of speech…Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist.”
By the Election Law Enforcement Commissions guidelines, signs are to be placed only on private property with the permission of the owner of the property. The standard is simple: place signs lawfully, leave others’ signs alone, and let voters assess the arguments.
I urge all of our local candidates and political committees to publicly commit to reminding their supporters of these important rules and laws around the signs going up in our community. And I encourage the community to reach out to law enforcement if they see others stealing signs. Most of all, I urge neighbors to keep our discourse worthy of Hopewell Valley: A place built upon generosity, a helping hand to those in need and named for one of the greatest of virtues: Hope.
With much gratitude,
Brian Cavanaugh
Hopewell Twp. resident
https://www.wearehopewellvalley.org/
