What to know about displaying political signs on lawns in Pennsylvania

IN Montgomery CountyUpper Providence Democrats started putting AirTags on his Kamala Harris for the president, marking traces of disappearances after about 50 people went missing in mid-October.

The commission found some signs were removed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation or confused homeowners. But much of it was stolen, said Ben Stevens, chairman of the Upper Providence Democrats. He once followed a flooded truck Donald Trump stickers to the supermarket after AirTag alerted him to a missing sign.

After calling the police and politely confronting the suspected theftist, Stevens recovered the sign.

“It makes me feel a little more in control.” he told The Inquirer.

The group’s AirTag experiment is a prime example of what Republican and Democratic Party organizers in Philadelphia’s collar counties say is increase in theft and vandalism of political signsstemming from the hotly contested presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

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

Why are political lawn signs so controversial and what rights do you have regarding displaying them in Pennsylvania? Here’s what you need to know:

Placing a political sign on your property is part of free speech protected under the First Amendment, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1994. City of Ladue v. Gilleowhich condemned a Missouri municipality for an ordinance banning political signs at private residences.

“Residential signs have long been an important and distinct means of expression,” the court wrote in its unanimous ruling.

That means political lawn signs “are protected from government intervention,” such as the city banning political signs altogether or subjecting them to different rules than trademarks, said Andrew McGinley, vice president of communications for the city. Committee of Seventya nonpartisan citizen watchdog group focused on voter protection and engagement.

The case was (literally) spot on: A federal appeals court ruled in May that an ordinance passed in Camp Hill Borough – a small town near Harrisburg – imposing stricter time and size limits on political signs it restricted freedom of speech and was therefore unconstitutional.

» READ MORE: From 2020: How to recycle campaign lawn signs

Yes – if it is a provision of the lease or homeowner’s agreement.

Although political lawn signs are protected from government crackdown, Pennsylvania law also provides that private entities (such as a property owner or HOA) can enter into agreements to limit their display.

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania issued its ruling 1996 that homeowners associations can restrict political signage because by purchasing homes in those communities, residents agree to abide by them rules. The same would likely apply to leases, McGinley said.

“No matter what the policy is, it should be written down and incorporated into the contract. You can’t just make it up on the spot,” McGinley said. He explained that restrictions on political signage should also be enforced uniformly, without such changes favoring the paraphernalia of one candidate or party over another.

Yes. Stealing a political lawn sign is a misdemeanor of third-degree larceny that can carry fines up to $2,000 in accordance with Pennsylvania law.

Consideration will likely be given to defacing the lawn sign simplified criminal offensewhich could result in a fine of up to $250 or 90 days in jail.

“It’s theft of something that doesn’t have a lot of monetary value. (…) People have every right and moral right to report it,” McGinley said.

Whether someone chooses to contact police about a stolen or defaced sign is ultimately a “personal decision,” McGinley said. McGinley said that when his parents had a political poster stolen from their Abington lawn, he advised him to simply replace it.

When Blue Bell’s Denise DePaul reviewed 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 – mostly out of principle, she said.

“For someone to come onto my private property to commit a crime just because they don’t like what they see is much more disturbing than just tearing down the sign,” DePaul said.

Each municipality has its own regulations regarding how long campaign signs can remain up.

There is no limit to how long political signs can hang in Philadelphia, the city’s law department he told Billy Penn in 2017although most campaigns will attempt to remove the signs within a week of Election Day.

Property owners are responsible for removing any signs on their lawns campaigns are responsible for removing their signs from public spaces.

» READ MORE: From 2023: Who cleans up all these campaign signs after the elections?

It depends.

A 2015 study by Columbia University professor Donald Green found that campaign signage can increase voter participation by an average of 1.7%.. This margin may be slim in presidential elections, however, it is essential in lower-vote races for things like school boards, which are often decided by a handful of votes.

Political organizers say the lawn signs are more about building confidence than influencing voters.

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

Signage is a small part hundreds of millions of dollars that the Harris and Trump campaigns spent on secure Philly counties and 19 Electoral College votes in Pennsylvania. They are also extremely visible – and in a rapidly polarizing political climatecan make people quickly judge their neighbors.

DePaul stated that she “thought anyone who had the Harris symptom was suspicious” right after she discovered her Trump-Vance banner had been taken away.

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

The Steere Commission discovered what it described as a “graveyard” of torn and discarded Harris signs behind the Montgomery Presbyterian Church in Lansdale earlier this fall. Steere said when a volunteer went to clear the area in mid-October, he discovered about 250 signs lying among the overgrown grass.

“Actually, to see dozens of just Harris signatures in that pile is disappointing,” Steere said. “Each of us should be able to express our opinions freely.”