What you need to know about displaying political lawn signs in Pennsylvania

In Montgomery Countythe Upper Providence Democrats started placing AirTags on them Kamala Harris for signs from the president to track down disappearances after about 50 went missing in mid-October.

The committee found that some signs were removed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation or homeowners became confused. Much of it, however, was stolen, said Ben Stevens, chairman of the Upper Providence Democrats. He once followed a truck that was full Donald Trump stickers placed on a supermarket after the AirTag alerted him that a sign was missing.

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

“It makes me feel like I have a little more control,” he told The Inquirer.

The group’s AirTag experiment is a better example of what Republican and Democratic organizers in Philadelphia counties are saying: an increase in theft and vandalism of political signsas a result of the heated presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

» READ MORE: ‘It’s almost like sign warfare’: In heated presidential race, signs on political lawns are a flashpoint in Philadelphia counties

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

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

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

This means political billboards are “protected from government intervention,” such as a city imposing a blanket ban on political billboards or subjecting them to different regulations than commercial signs, said Andrew McGinley, vice president of external affairs for the Committee of Seventya nonpartisan citizen watchdog group focused on voter protection and engagement.

One example (literally) brought up: A federal appeals court ruled in May that an ordinance in Camp Hill Borough — a small town outside Harrisburg — imposed stricter time and size limits on political signals limited freedom of expression and was therefore unconstitutional.

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

Yes, if it is a provision in your lease or homeowner’s agreement.

While political signs are protected from government crackdowns, Pennsylvania law also says private entities (such as a landlord or HOA) can use contracts to limit their display.

The Superior Court of Pennsylvania has ruled 1996 that homeowners associations be allowed to restrict political signage because by purchasing homes in those communities, residents agree to abide by their rules. lines. The same would likely apply to a lease, McGinley said.

“Whatever the policy is, it should be written down and included in the contract. It can’t just be made up on the spot,” McGinley said. Restrictions on political signage should also be uniformly enforced, he explained, without favoring paraphernalia for one candidate or party over another.

Yes. Stealing a political lawn sign is theft in the third degree, which can entail fines up to $2,000 under Pennsylvania law.

Vandalizing a lawn sign is probably being considered a summary offensewhich could result in a fine of up to $250 or 90 days in jail.

“It’s the theft of something that doesn’t have much monetary value. … People absolutely have a legal and moral right to report this,” McGinley said.

Whether someone chooses to contact police about a stolen or vandalized sign is ultimately a “personal decision,” McGinley said. When his parents had a political sign stolen from their lawn in Abington, McGinley said, his recommendation was that they simply replace it.

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

“That someone would enter my private property to commit a crime just because he doesn’t like what he sees is far more disturbing than the actual sign tearing itself,” DePaul said.

Each municipality has its own rules about how long campaign signs can remain up.

There is no limit to how long political signs can remain up in Philadelphia, the city’s legal department 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 will clean up all those campaign signs after elections?

It depends.

A 2015 study by Columbia University professor Donald Green found that campaign signaling can increase the voter share by an average of 1.7%. That margin may be negligible in presidential elections, yet crucial in the down ballot races for matters such as school boards, which can often be decided with a handful of votes.

Political organizers say lawn signs are intended more to create reassurance than to influence voters.

Signage “makes you feel supported in the community,” said Stevens, president of the Upper Providence Democrats.

Signage is a small part of the hundreds of millions of dollars the Harris and Trump campaigns spent on that secure Philly’s collar districts and Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral College votes. They’re also hypervisible – and, in a rapidly polarizing political climatecan lead people to make quick judgments about their neighbors.

DePaul said she “thought anyone with a Harris sign was a suspect” shortly after she discovered her Trump-Vance banner had been taken.

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

Steere’s committee discovered what it described as “a graveyard” of torn and discarded Harris signs behind the Montgomery Presbyterian Church in Lansdale earlier this fall. When a volunteer went to clear the site in mid-October, Steere discovered about 250 plates lying among the overgrown grass.

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