As the Arizona midterm election season comes to a close, Phoenix’s streets and neighborhoods are clean of political signage.
As quickly as these postcards, posters and pamphlets come, it is gone in a blur. Where did they come from, and where did they go?
Chad Weeks is the owner of International Printing Company, a union print shop located in Downtown Phoenix. Weeks noted a spike in demand and higher expectations for printing speeds during political seasons.
“In political years, like this year with the statewide elections, it definitely increased our business,” Weeks said.
The process of printing political signage involves several steps and moving parts, and it all starts with communication with a political consultant and a designer.
“Mail pieces are designed by a designer sometimes within our company, but many times political consulting groups send us the artwork,” Weeks said.
From there, the printer will press on a “union bug” or a logo specifying that the union shop has printed the collateral.
This small, seemingly irrelevant logo is a primary motive for Democratic candidates deciding who will print their marketing.
“Most Democratic candidates want to have our logo on it, which says that it was printed by the union print shop,” Weeks said. “We kind of fall into the category of political printing just because of being a union contract.”
At all employees are members of the Communication Workers of America union, from ownership to lower-level employees. The heart of these three-year contracts through the union is to provide workers with fair wages and good benefits.
Following the union bug impression, the process continues.
The printing job is so-called “plated,” meaning that an electronically sent file creates this plate for the color palette of the mailpiece.
From this point, it reaches the final destination in its printing journey: the printing press.
“That’s where the paper is actually run through and the images are printed,” Weeks said of the printing press.
The next step is disseminating the pieces. The International Printing Company does work for local candidates, but the company can also print anywhere in the United States.
After all the mailpieces have been sent out and the elections have run their course, the takedown of publicly posted signage, such as those posted on street corners, is imminent.
The City of Phoenix’s Sign Services of the Planning & Development Department, or PDD, decides when signs must be removed on private and public property.
According to a statement posted by the PDD, “Signs on private property must be removed ten (10) days after the election to which they refer… Signs in the right-of-way must be removed fifteen (15) days after the election to which they refer.”
These numbers differ drastically from when political sign placement is before an election. In the case of private property, there is no precise time limit. For right-of-way or signs along streets, signs are placed up to 71 days before an election.
Contact the reporter at @agbeck1@asu.edu
