Inquiry of the Week (8/12/02)

Question:

May the county prohibit how long in advance of an election that political signs may be posted?

Answer:

No, probably not. In the case of Collier v. Tacoma, the state supreme court held that the provision in the Tacoma Municipal Code that limited political signs to sixty days prior to an election was unconstitutional. So it probably is not possible to limit the time in advance of an election that political signs can be posted in the places where political signs are allowed.

The court allowed a ten day post-election removal requirement. The rights of political expression do not weigh as heavily on post-election restrictions and the local government's interest in aesthetics and traffic safety outweigh the individual rights. So a county likely could enact a valid regulation requiring removal of political signs ten days after the election.