WE stand ready to be corrected, but this newspaper can’t recall an election campaign in which political party paraphernalia has made the news to the extent it has in recent months.

In mid-year it even reached the courts — the Supreme Court ruling that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-led St James Municipal Corporation should desist from removing political party signage in that western parish.

News reports at the time said chairman of the St James municipality and mayor of Montego Bay Mr Richard Vernon had ordered the removal pending the announcement of the election date.

The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) objected and took the matter to court.

Since then, at the community level, there has even been tension after rising tit-for-tat incidents of political partisans tearing down and otherwise vandalising opponents’ paraphernalia, including flags and posters.

Just last week this newspaper was moved to observe that such irrational behaviour nurtures cynicism towards, and contempt for Jamaica’s political process among the uncommitted. That, of course, further contributes to worryingly high voter apathy.

Charges and countercharges of vandalism have even triggered probes of sorts from the political ombudsman’s office, now unwisely subsumed in the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ).

To be fair to parliamentary aspirants and leadership of both political parties, there have been calls for their supporters to stop the silliness — sober voices pointing out the obvious, that flags and posters “don’t vote”.

Perhaps our scientific polling organisations should consider querying responders as to whether signage can influence how they vote?

Since such things are by no means cheap, negative responses to such a question could hopefully encourage politicians and their parties to save money.

We confess that until this newspaper’s latest Sunday edition we gave little or no thought to the substance of the latest news article about political flags and posters — that those affixed to utility poles could pose a direct threat to health and safety.

According to Dr Robert Beharie, lecturer and head of electrical power engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona, paraphernalia hoisted on utility poles could represent a safety hazard to the “public overall”, including pedestrians, motorists, utility workers, and the individuals mounting them.

And while politics is now most topical, we dare not forget that events of all sorts — not least commercial entertainment — are often advertised on utility poles.

Said Dr Beharie: “The main thing is risk. If you think about it, a pole might be scheduled for repair because it is not in good condition, and you’ll have non-competent [individuals] or people who are not experienced [erecting posters] — however they get these flyers on the pole, whether they climb them [or] they use other methods — it could be very, very unsafe …”

And further that, “Some of them [posters] are huge. How secure is this [signage] that was installed? Was it done to any specification or standard?” That’s a reference to the danger of stuff falling and injuring someone, or worse.

And if that happens, who is accountable?

It seems to us that all of these considerations should be in the mix as Jamaicans contemplate political practice going forward, post-September 3.