I had an Obama/Biden yard sign up in my “yard” for just a few days before it was removed. I thought at first that our homeowner’s association may have had something to do with it, but I’m not so sure that’s the case anymore. I don’t know what happened to it and it doesn’t really matter at this point.
So when you have a complaint, the first thing you do is you blog about it, right? My friend KathyHowe kindly pointed me towards the state law on campaign yard signs.
Some municipalities have ordinances restricting the placement of lawn signs. In a state general election year (even years), these ordinances are overruled by Minnesota Statutes 211B.045 from August 1st until 10 days after the general election, and campaign signs may be posted in any size and number. In municipalities which have no sign ordinance, campaign signs may be posted in any size and number throughout the year.
Additional information on the legal placement of signs may be found in the DOT Letter to Candidates (pdf).
211B.045 NONCOMMERCIAL SIGNS EXEMPTION
In any municipality, whether or not the municipality has an ordinance that regulates the size or number of noncommercial signs, all noncommercial signs of any size may be posted in any number from August 1 in a state general election year until ten days following the state general election.
So display your yard sign proudly. Even though you might not catch the bastard thieves, you can feel whatever you need to feel knowing your display was not illegal.
3 Comments
What about signs up along freeways? Isn’t that public land? Should they technically be allowed up there?
I wondered about that. I guess it depends on exactly where property lines end. I assumed all those signs that are usually just on the other side of a fence belong to whoever’s on the other side of that fence.
There was a dust up a few weeks back, too, about one campaign taking down the other’s signs (was it Madia vs Paulsen?) and it turns out the signs were illegally placed in the first place.
Lorika put an Obama sign in our front yard in NE Mpls and it didn’t last 12 hours – but it was on Halloween, so drunk idiot zombies may be responsible.
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