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Political candidates in today’s age have much more than babies to kiss and hands to shake on the way to office. They have an entire campaign to finance, facilitate and follow through. They must gain public attention and then keep it. One of the most effective and inexpensive aspects of an election campaign are yard signs…and they’re also one of the most talked about components of the campaign as well. With accusations flying about who is responsible for them missing and First amendment rights’ violations being cited as reason for their being a protected form of activism, political yard signs pose a rather fiery issue.
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Once election campaigns get to their full swing, political signs are everywhere! And then they start to disappear. Through the years, accusations about the missing signs have been placed in the most imaginative places. Personally, I remember my schoolmates having a love of stolen signs, but tyrant teenagers are at the bottom of the list of suspects. It has been found many times that disgruntled neighbors find the signs to be an eyesore and tear them down just based on their idea of aesthetics. More often, campaign managers and even the politicians themselves are accused of stealing signs belonging to their opponents from the yards of their supporters. Supporters themselves have been accused of attempting to influence a campaign in their party’s favor by removing political yard signs belonging to the other side. After all, as many as six votes are estimated to be influenced by each of these inexpensive political signs. (1)
Because of their broad appeal and inexpensiveness, political yard signs are often used as a declaration of support by many who would otherwise not participate in any sort of activism. In a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, City of Ladue v. Gilleo, the court pointed out that yard signs or window signs are “an unusually cheap or convenient form of communication” and that “especially for persons of modest means…a yard sign or window sign may have no practical substitute.” (2) Idaho law supports the First Amendment right to free speech in allowing for yard signs to be placed on one’s own personal property but there are consequences for placing said election signs on personal or public property without the landowner’s permission: misdemeanor charges. Furthermore, Idaho Code 18-7029 states that soliciting by a political candidate (or salesperson) is a similar violation if a sign is posted on the property stating it is unwelcome. And, here’s a big one for those eyesore neighbors, if a public utility allows one candidate a place for his yard sign, so too must there be space available for all of his opponents. (3)
Many supreme court cases have attempted to answer the question of whether it is a violation of free-speech for a city or municipality to limit the time length and number of signs a property owner may display.
“Because the ordinances are widespread, conflicts are springing up around the country:
- City employees in Draper, Utah, pulled up dozens of signs for a candidate for the state school board. Candidates are allowed to post signs only during the final 30 days before the election. The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the city.
- In Glendale, Calif., the City Council suspended an ordinance that limits property owners to one sign per property after the ACLU threatened to sue.
- In July, a federal judge in Wisconsin struck down a City of Pewaukee ordinance that limited signs to 45 days before the election.
Similar conflicts have arisen in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia.” (4)
In September of 2004, a federal judge barred a Michigan city from enforcing an ordinance that only allowed campaign signs to be displayed for the thirty days before election. In April of the same year another federal judge found that a Wisconsin man’s First Amendment rights were violated when his city attempted to stifle his political sign’s message. In July the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union stood against several cities and their ordinances against these seemingly innocent political signs. The ACLU has stood at the federal courts podium time after time defending citizens’ rights to freely and without time limitation display their political and election choices on their personal property. (4) The state of California has even passed a law disallowing homeowner’s associations from prohibiting these signs, as is a common contractual condition for such private entities. Here in Idaho a case rages on between a former Osburn man and city officials who charged him with libel for what could be seen as overstating his political concern with his lawn signs. (5)
The yard sign debate can be quite the debacle, but no matter how you view the politics of political signs, they’re a huge part of an election campaign. In the U.S., election signs account for a significant part of a political budget. In Canada, where campaign finance laws are far stricter, “winning the ‘sign-war’ is considered an essential part of a successful campaign and a significant portion of a campaign’s resources are dedicated to this end.” (1)
Politicians employ a number of design and psychologist professionals in order to help sway the public’s opinion in their favor. From color choice to text style and what a sign might include, each aspect of a sign’s design is well thought out. According to Jim Fleming’s “The Art & Science of Signs and Graphics,” color alone is a huge component. For example, Fleming states that Green “is the color of nature and is therefore the preferred color of…candidates that want to be perceived as environmentally friendly. Blue is the color of trust…Purple… reminds people of royalty, bravery, chivalry and honor…Yellow and Orange are the colors of danger and caution…Red…elicits excitement…Black and Brown are generally considered melancholy and foreboding.” (6) All of that said, Idaho Code 40-1910 section 5 states that no sign visible from any interstate or primary highway may display any red, blue or blinking light that could be mistaken for a warning or danger signal. (7)
Political Lawn Signs have, since their dawn, elicited fiery debates. Whether one cites their Constitutional rights, the importance of color-scheme or accusations of stealing political signs, it seems that the issues they raise will be around long after dusk.
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