Editor,

Well, the 2011 campaign season is upon us and like the leaves along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Huntersville cityscape is getting ready to turn into the color of campaign signs. Starting Oct. 1, candidates could place signs on all state roads. On Oct. 9, the entire Town of Huntersville becomes fair game.

With the election on Nov. 8, that means we’ll have about six weeks of reds, blues, greens and yellows dotting our street asking you to vote for a particular candidate. Personally, I think this needs to change. Four years ago I tried to get the Huntersville Town Board to change the sign laws to restrict their placement to 21 days before election day. At the time, the rule allowed them up for 45 days, and while I was able to convince my colleagues to reduce the time to 30 days, we still did not get to what I feel is a reasonable three weeks.

Now, I strongly believe in free speech and all that goes with it. However, just as the town prohibits signage from local businesses, we as electeds should hold ourselves to a higher standard, or at least the same standard. It would be illegal for a local business to put out an 18x24 yard sign on the side of a road, yet local candidates will put up hundreds over the next few weeks. To me, that level of hypocrisy is disgraceful.

This is my fourth municipal election and for the last two I have limited myself to the 21-day rule for putting signs out. This year, I am going further and limiting myself to putting signs out only 16 days prior to the election (with the lone exception of the single early voting location). So while there will be hundreds of signs that have already gone up or will go up soon after Oct. 9, I would encourage local residents to ask our candidates to live by a stricter standard than the law allows for. Just because you can put up signs now, doesn’t mean you should.

— Charles Jeter, Huntersville