COLUMBUS, Ohio — Some Ohio counties are beginning to receive Harris-Walz yard signs with about two months to go until Election Day.

Montgomery County Democratic Party Chair Mohamed Al-Hamdani said the lack of campaign signs posted  so far for Kamala Harris as president and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz as vice president is not necessarily a sign there’s a lack of enthusiasm.

“Best way to describe it is a madhouse,” he said. “People really want those signs.”

He said now that the Democratic National Convention is behind us and Harris and Walz are officially the party’s nominees for the country’s top offices, the party’s playing catch up.

“As soon as she announced, we started getting calls from people asking us for yard signs,” he said. “And we had to, you know, push people back and say, ‘Well, we can’t really just print signs without, you know, a VP pick.”

His county received about 3,500 signs just before Labor Day weekend.

“To our surprise, as soon as we told people we had them, we had a line of people showing up,” Al-Hamdani said. “And we weren’t prepared for that, actually, at all.”

Athens County is dealing with a similar response after placing its order the day Walz was announced as the vice presidential candidate Aug. 6.

“We have 500 signs and they’re flying out the door, so I don’t know how long they’ll last,” said Lauren Dikis, Athens County Democratic Party chair. “I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get some more.”

The delay this year stems from President Joe Biden deciding in Late July he would not seek a second term.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party has known for months Former President Donald Trump would be on the ballot when he secured the majority of votes during the GOP primaries held earlier this year.

But University of Akron Political Science Professor Dave Cohen said signs are not really a big factor for presidential campaigns.

“Do they make a huge difference in persuading people how to vote?” he said. “I don't think so. But I think they are an indicator, a barometer of how well a campaign is doing or not doing.”

Cohen said since Ohio is not a battleground state, it would not surprise him if signs are slower to hit communities here. 

“We're talking the United States of America, you know, 50 states," he said. "You know, we have 330-plus million people that live here. You know, and we have to make sure that they have enough signs in those battleground states as the first priority."

Marc Clauson, professor of history and law at Cedarville University, said the displays are more a tradition at this point.

“There was a time when they were really, really important," he said. "I think that day has probably passed for them to be as important as they used to be.”

Instead, he said social media and other advertising is more impactful.

“Signs are cheap, which is the advantage, as opposed to buying TV time,” he said. “But still, TV time is probably more efficient than that.“

Even if they don’t sway votes, Dikis said the signs can help remind voters Election Day is coming.

“And to go out and find some information about, you know, how you’re going to make your choice and what the different candidates’ plans are,” she said.

Election Day is Nov. 5.