Political Signage Legislation
As we come into an Election year, the proliferation of political signage has become somewhat of a nuisance in the City of Chicago. Election signage is only allowed in / on certain areas of our Communities. However, signage in the City of Chicago doesn’t seem to follow any of the State rules.
This needs to change!
Current Statewide Ordinance
The main bullet points regarding the issue of election signage is/are as follows:
Signs shall be no larger than 2 feet by 3 feet and that all signs shall be made of a biodegradable material.That the number of signs on private property should be limited to one sign for each candidate for each public office.Prohibits posting signs closer than 20 feet from the property line or street.Prohibits the posting of signs on public property.Campaign signs may not be posted on public ways, utility rights-of-way, easements, or any public property. If a sign is posted in these areas, the corporate authorities of the municipality where the sign is posted or, if the sign is located in an unincorporated area, the county board of the county where the sign is posted, shall order the removal of the campaign sign.A ‘campaign free zone’ extends 100 feet from the entrance of a polling place. If a political sign is placed withing 100 feet of a polling place, that site administrator should remove that signage.
Concerns
The main issues with this State law is that it doesn’t really apply to a major city such as Chicago.
Most yards within the city limits of Chicago do not have adequate frontage to allow for a sign placement that would be viewable by the public.
Signs are repeatedly and most knowingly placed on public property in the form of easements, medians, etc.
Due to the high pedestrian traffic, these signs are also affixed to public property in the form of street light poles, street sign poles, etc., of which are never removed and cause damage to that public property.
Similarly, the use of stickers has become a prevalent issue through the City of Chicago limits, of which, those stickers are NEVER removed, ultimately leading to additional public property damage.
311 Issues
According to an email from the Chicago Board of Elections, if a political sign is placed incorrectly on any other ‘surface’, a 311 request must be made to remove that sign. Unfortunately, there is no specific 311 category for this, and therefore, the CBOE stated to submit a Sanitation complaint. However, submitting a Sanitation complaint is entirely the wrong category to use, for the Sanitation category is not to be used for that intended purpose and its purpose is as follows:
Use this service type to report unsanitary conditions on private property that could cause the owner to be cited for violating the City's sanitation codes. Certain questions must be answered to initiate an investigation: the location address and what type of problem exists. It is helpful to know who is responsible for the problem, if known. If you can leave your name and phone number, the inspectors sometimes need to contact the complainant in order to issue a citation to the violator.
Legislation Changes
The legislation regarding political signage within the City limits of Chicago needs to change to be reflective of the Municipal Ordinance 10-8-320 and/or 8-4-060. This needs to be changed at the State Level, but could also be adopted at the City level.
Contact your local Alderman and make them aware of this issue
Contact your Local State Elected Senator or Representative to also make them aware of this issue