Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Elections Sign Regulations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Dallas code compliance summarizes political sign rules for polling locations, private property and public rights of way
Summary
Jeremy Reid, assistant director of City of Dallas Code Compliance, summarized city rules on political signs: polling-location signs are limited in timing and size; private-property signage has larger size thresholds and permitting rules; signs in public rights of way are prohibited and will be removed.
Jeremy Reid, assistant director of Code Compliance for the City of Dallas, briefed attendees on the city’s rules for political signs ahead of the election.
Reid said the rules come from the City of Dallas code, chapter 15A, which governs election-related signage. For official polling locations on public property (libraries, recreation centers and similar sites serving as voting locations), signs may be placed no earlier than two calendar days before early voting or election day and must be removed no later than two calendar days after the last official voting day. “They must refer to a candidate or issue that is on the ballot at the particular voting location,” Reid said.
Reid outlined size and placement limits for polling-location signs: a maximum effective area of 20 square feet (for example, up to 4 feet by 5 feet), a maximum height of 8 feet to the top of the sign, no illumination or moving parts, and they may not be placed in the public right of way (parkways, medians, light poles or traffic poles) even if adjacent to the polling site. He said signs attached to structures at polling locations cannot project more than 18 inches from walls, roofs, parapets or eaves.
For private property, Reid said the rules are less strict but still require property-owner permission. On private property a sign does not need a permit when it is less than 36 square feet, lower than 8 feet, not illuminated and not placed over an easement. Larger signs, illuminated signs or signs over 8 feet require a permit; failure to obtain a required permit would be the cited violation.
On public rights of way — medians, light poles, stop signs and parkways — Reid said political signs (and other temporary signs) are not permitted and will be removed by Code Compliance. He added that removal is the city’s standard process and that leaving a sign in the right of way creates prima facie evidence that the person named on the sign placed it there and may subject that person to citation. Reid said he will provide handouts summarizing the rules and noted the same guidance is posted on the City of Dallas Code Compliance website.
Reid closed by inviting attendees to take the handout and review the online materials; Code Compliance will follow the code’s enforcement process for prohibited signs.
