What you need to know about posting political signs on lawns in Pennsylvania

IN Montgomery CountyUpper Providence Democrats started placing AirTags on their Kamala Harris The president signed a decree to track disappearances after about 50 people went missing in mid-October.

The committee found that some signs had been removed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation or were confusing to homeowners. But much of it was stolen, said Ben Stevens, chairman of the Upper Providence Democratic Party. One day he was following a truck covered Donald Trump stickers in a supermarket after AirTag alerted him to a missing sign.

After calling the police and a fairly civil confrontation with the suspected thief, Stevens got the sign back.

“It makes me feel a little better” he told The Inquirer.

The group’s AirTag experiment is a prime example of what Republican and Democratic organizers in Philadelphia neighborhoods say is increase in theft and vandalism of political signssparked by the heated presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

” READ MORE: ‘It’s almost like a sign war’: In bitter presidential race, political lawn signs have become a flashpoint in Philadelphia counties

Why are political lawn signs so controversial and what are your rights to place them in Pennsylvania? Here’s what you need to know:

Placing a political sign on your property is part of free speech protected by the First Amendment, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1994 during City of Ladue vs Gilleowho condemned a Missouri municipality for its ordinance banning political signs from private homes.

“House signs have long been an important and distinctive means of expression,” the court wrote in the unanimous decision.

That means political lawn signs are “safe from government interference,” such as when a city imposes a complete ban on political signs or makes them subject to different rules than commercial signs, said Andrew McGinley, vice president of external affairs. Committee of Seventya nonpartisan community watchdog group dedicated to voter protection and engagement.

Case in point (literally): In May, a federal appeals court ruled that Camp Hill County, a small town near Harrisburg, had passed an ordinance setting stricter limits on the timing and size of political signs. restricted freedom of speech and was thus unconstitutional..

” READ MORE: From 2020: How to Recycle Your Campaign Lawn Signs

Yes, if your lease or landlord agreement provides for it.

While political lawn signs are protected from government reprisal, Pennsylvania law also states that private entities (such as a homeowner or HOA) can use contracts to restrict their placement.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 1996 that homeowners associations are allowed to restrict political signs because by purchasing homes in these communities, residents agree to abide by them rules. The same is likely true for rentals, McGinley said.

“Whatever the policy is, it needs to be written down and included in the contract. You can’t just make it up on the spot,” McGinley said. Restrictions on political signs will also need to be enforced uniformly, he explained, without favoring the attributes of one candidate or party over another.

Yes. Stealing a political lawn sign is a third-degree misdemeanor that can result in fine up to $2000 in accordance with Pennsylvania law.

Vandalism of the lawn sign will likely be addressed. summary criminal mischiefwhich could result in a fine of up to $250 or up to 90 days in jail.

“It’s stealing something that doesn’t have much monetary value. … People have an absolute legal and moral right to report this,” McGinley said.

Whether someone decides to call police over a stolen or vandalized sign is ultimately a “personal decision,” McGinley said. When his parents’ political sign was stolen from their lawn in Abington, McGinley said, he recommended they simply replace it.

When Blue Bell’s Denise DePaul viewed surveillance footage of a man cutting and dismantling a 4-by-4-foot Trump-Vance sign on her front lawn in mid-October, she filed a police report — largely on principle, she said.

“The fact that someone comes onto my private property to commit a crime just because they don’t like what they see is far more disturbing than the fact that the sign was torn down,” DePaul said.

Each municipality has its own rules regarding how long campaign signs can remain in place.

Philadelphia’s city law department has no restrictions on how long political signs can stay up. told Billy Penn in 2017although most campaigns will attempt to remove the signs within a week of Election Day.

Property owners are responsible for disposing of any signs on their lawns. campaigns are responsible for removing their signs from public places.

” READ MORE: From 2023: Who takes down all those campaign signs after the election?

It depends.

A 2015 study by Columbia University professor Donald Green found that campaign signs can increase the share of voters by an average of 1.7%. In presidential elections, this margin may be insignificant. but vital in closed-vote races for things like school boards, which can often be decided by multiple votes.

Political organizers say the lawn signs are more intended to instill confidence than to sway voters.

The signs “help you feel supported in the community,” said Stevens, chairman of the Upper Providence Democratic Party.

Signs make up only a small part hundreds of millions of dollars the Harris and Trump campaigns spent on keep Philadelphia’s neighborhoods safe and Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral College votes. They are also hypervisible – and, in a rapidly polarizing political climatecan lead people to make quick judgments about their neighbors.

DePaul said she “thought everyone who had a Harris sign was a suspect” immediately after she discovered her Trump-Vance banner had been stolen.

“People are so entrenched in who they support that they just don’t want to consider the alternative and, unfortunately, they’ve completely written off the other side,” said Christine Steere, chairwoman of the Plumstead Democratic Party in the House of Representatives. Bucks County.

Steere’s committee discovered what she called a “graveyard” of torn and discarded Harris signs behind Montgomery Presbyterian Church in Lansdale earlier this fall. When a volunteer went to clear the area in mid-October, he found about 250 signs lying among the overgrown grass, Steere said.

“To actually see dozens and dozens of Harris signs in this pile is disappointing,” Steere said. “We should all be able to express our opinions freely.”