Why election signs popped up overnight for the 2026 municipal campaign

Volunteers install an election sign for candidate Theresa Kavanagh during the morning of Sept. 11, 2026. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

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If you think campaign advertisements and election signs popped up — seemingly overnight — it’s because they did.

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At least some mayoral, councillor and trustee candidates for Ottawa’s upcoming municipal elections did their initial sign blitz overnight, shortly after midnight, when Sept. 10 turned into Sept. 11.

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Until now, the elections have featured a series of formal bureaucratic processes, including candidate nominations, certifications and disclaimers.

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But as of Sept. 11 more than a dozen mayoral hopefuls, 85 candidates for councillor and others running for trustee positions with the city’s four school boards had the green light to display their campaign signs.

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Volunteers, campaign managers and councillor candidates worked overnight to post signs in an attempt to earn the votes of their respective constituents.

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As an example, Ward 1 Orléans East-Cumberland candidate Yvette Ashiri said she and approximately 20 campaign volunteers were to meet for a team briefing late into Thursday evening, reviewing campaign advertisement rules and dividing up the tasks.

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“This is something that I love very much,” Ashiri said. “There’s a sense of gratitude because you’re putting out your name and that takes a lot of effort and it’s also a way the community can show their support by putting signs on their lawns.”

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Ward 14 Somerset candidate Ariel Troster, who is seeking re-election in 2026, said volunteers for her campaign would also be putting up signs overnight.

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“I am not a night owl,” Troster quipped. “But, luckily, I have a lot of younger volunteers who are (and) will be doing that.”

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The posters and signage, Troster added, embodied a tangible reminder of the upcoming election set for Oct. 26.

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Installation: Planning is a must

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Ashiri says orchestrating an overnight political campaign, as thrilling as it can be, requires a great deal of organization and planning, featuring “a volunteer co-ordinator who would ensure that everybody who said that they are going to come to put up signs are there and have the information they need.”

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After first running for Ottawa council in 2020 in a byelection for Ward 19 Cumberland, now Orléans South-Navan, and running again in 2022 in that same ward, is re-using election signs from past campaigns in her bid for Orléans East-Cumberland this year. 

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Troster is also re-using leftover signs from the 2022 election, when she was first elected in Somerset ward with 61.28 per cent support. For four years those signs were stored in her mother-in-law’s Barrhaven basement.

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It was during a recent downpour that Troster, her wife and her campaign manager power-washed graffiti and dirt off the recycled signs.

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“We got them all squeaky clean,” Troster said. “Councillors spend thousands on election signs; it doesn’t make sense to throw them away.”