Signs outnumber votes

At the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Administrative Office, campaign signs outnumbered actual voters more than four hours into polling: At 10:52 p.m., 27 ballots were cast despite the 40 signs advertising candidates on the lawn.

The cluster of signs was a dazzling treat to the eyes. Town Council incumbent Laurin Easthom’s majestic purple complemented the challenger Gene Pease’s Kelly green. And council candidate Penny Rich’s sky blue-and-rust-colored signs providing intriguing contrast when juxtaposed with the abrasive school bus yellow of school board candidate Mary Anne Gucciardi.

Town Council candidates Jim Merritt, Matt Pohlman and Will Raymond each had four of their signs present in a small stretch of grass at the precinct’s parking lot. (If signs counted for votes, the trio would have this election in the bag.)

Mayoral candidate Augustus Cho contributed three signs of his own to the multi-colored cardboard exhibition.

But the real winner seemed to be mayoral hopeful Mark Kleinschmidt, who despite having only two campaign-sponsored signs in the parking lot, managed to get his name on three more, including two hand-made signs and a third listing the recipients of the Sierra Club endorsements.

One of Kleinschmidt's handmade signs was directly in response to an opponent, Matt Czajkowski. Czajkowski's signs read "A sensible choice," while Klienschmidt's read "The sensible choice."