The election may be over, but there’s one more important deadline for political campaigns across our area: political signs must be removed by Friday, Nov. 13.
Under the applicable election sign-removal timeline, campaigns have 10 days after an election to take down their signs according to Political Consultant Jacob Lee.
For residents tired of seeing campaign signs lining neighborhood streets, intersections and public spaces, the deadline is an important one to remember.
Political signs can remain an eyesore weeks after Election Day
Lee told 2 Helps You that while campaigns are given a window of time to put signs up before an election, removing them afterward can be a different story.
“You have 10 days after an election to get your signs down. You have 90 days to get them up, so you have signs all over the county,” Lee explained.
As for who really gets held accountable?
“Nobody,” Lee said, who made it clear there should be a better accountability process to ensure campaigns follow through with removing their signs.
Lee’s Next Gen Political Consulting using technology to remove signage
Lee isn’t just talking about the problem.
He’s also taking steps to address it with through his political affairs firm, Next Gen Political Consulting.
Lee showed us the program he developed on his app to ensure clients helps campaign teams keep track of where their signs are located.
The process is relatively simple according to Lee, “We created an app for our candidates to be able to take a picture of their sign where it is. It will geolocate it, and then it marks it on a map,” Lee said. “So when you go to pick them up, it tells you these are where they are, and you can mark them as picked up.”
Lee said the goal is to make campaign cleanup more organized and efficient.
What residents should know about the deadline
Prior to meeting with 2 Helps You Lee was actively collecting signs and said he had only a few more stops to make before finishing the cleanup.
The key date for campaigns and residents to remember is Friday, Nov. 13.
If political signs remain in your neighborhood after the applicable removal deadline, residents may want to contact the appropriate local government department to ask about reporting and removal procedures or document the violation and file an ethics complaint with the state.
Remember, whenever there are questions or community concerns, 2 Helps You should never be your first call, but we don’t mind being your last.
