NEWS

13 candidates fined for election signs

Delaware officials have fined more than a dozen politicians for illegally placed yard signs in the past three months

Xerxes Wilson
The News Journal
Campaign signs fill the grass around the intersection of North Broom Street and Concord Avenue in Wilmington on Wednesday afternoon.
  • Political signs are cluttering roadsides across the state as the Sept. 13 primary nears.
  • State officials in 2012 removed 3,800 signs illegally placed too close to roads.
  • Violating signs are confiscated, and the owner is given a warning for the first offense.

The weeds of campaign season are sprouting from Selbyville to Claymont.

Political signs are cluttering roadsides and intersections across Delaware as the Sept. 13 primary draws closer.

For politicians, the placards are a way to reinforce their name in voters' minds. For state transportation officials, ensuring signs are properly placed is a matter of public safety.

In the past three months, 13 politicians statewide have been fined for signs put on utility poles, medians or too close to the road. Other than obtaining permission, there are not standard rules for placing signs in yards.

"Roadside signs are a challenge all year long," said Jim Westhoff, a Delaware Department of Transportation spokesman. "During campaign season, that is when it becomes a larger undertaking." 

View of polling signs along Rt. 9 in Georgetown.


During 2012, the last major election year, the department removed about 3,800 signs illegally placed too close to roads – including both political signs and business advertisements. 

Typically, roadside signs are not allowed in rights-of-way, a section of state-owned land that borders roadways and serves as space for drainage and electric utilities. Measuring that right-of-way can be difficult because it's different alongside every road, Westhoff said.

As the yard-sign arms race heats up, Delaware Department of Transportation officials on Thursday announced the opening of a window that loosens rules on how close those signs can be to local roads. 

Thirty days before and after major elections, signs are allowed in the state's rights-of-way, but not in the so-called "clear zones." That zone is measured 10 feet from the road and includes medians; utility poles; and channel islands, or land between two merging roads.

Railroad infrastructure and electric utilities near the road are also policed by DelDOT. Even outside the clear zone, signs are not allowed on utility poles and other electric utility equipment.

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"On a daily basis, we work with the railroad and utilities," Westhoff said. "If signs are attached to a light pole or a table box, that is our jurisdiction."

Violating signs are confiscated, and the owner is given a warning for the first offense. Any business or candidate with a subsequent offense is assessed a $25 fine and charged an extra $15 to get the sign back. If purchased in bulk from a local printing business, the signs and anchors can cost $6 to $10. 

The purpose of keeping signs at least 10 feet from the road is two-fold. Westhoff said the rules keep campaign workers and residents installing signs from being too close to the street. The signs also can obstruct motorists views, he said.

The authority for officials to yank signs has been controversial at times.

Campaign signs fill the grass around the intersection of North Broom Street and Concord Avenue in Wilmington on Wednesday afternoon. In the past three months, 13 politicians statewide have been fined for signs put on utility poles, medians or too close to the road.

In 2005, a U.S. District Court judge upheld the city of Rehoboth Beach's ability to remove signs from public property. Similar complaints were raised in Wilmington that same year. 

In Wilmington, the intersection Concord Avenue and North Broom Street is described by some as sign central. Both sides of the road are lined primarily with the red, white and blue of the advertisements. Periodically, they disappear only to repopulate. On a quick drive, it is fairly easy to find a sign that appears to be a violation of the law. Enforcement is difficult because of the thousands of miles of roads in the state. 

DelDOT's roadside control section is responsible for policing illegal signs. These agents are split up by county and tasked with driving every inch of state-controlled road searching for illegally placed signs, said Jeff Leonard, who manages the department for DelDOT.

In New Castle County, those sweeps can take three to four months to go from Naamans Road to the Kent County line. Campaign season is always a drag on those inspections, Leonard said.

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"The measuring is a little more time consuming," Leonard said. "It slows them down a little bit." 

Leonard said New Castle and Sussex counties are "pretty close" in the number of fines assessed. New Castle County is the most populous. Sussex County has a large amount of residential development generating fines for new home advertisements. 

Of the fines assessed in recent months, most were advertising things like bounce house rentals and grass-cutting services.

"Some businesses treat it as the cost of doing business," Leonard said. "With the $25 fine, the only thing I can assume is they are gathering more business than they are spending paying our violation." 

While businesses' signs make up the bulk of violations, politicians have been getting on the act this season. More than 50 violations were handed out to various campaigns since May. Leonard said if private citizens place signs illegally, candidates are the ones hit with the fines. 

Democratic congressional candidate Scott Walker has racked up 17 violations, more than three times more than the closest politician offender.

Walker, a political newcomer with limited name recognition, also has the most unconventional political ads. He's put hundreds of his spray-painted plywood signs across the state. He makes them himself or with the help of tenants in the apartments he owns because it is cheaper than buying a traditional sign, he said.

"It is all about free speech," Walker said as he painted over stencils for his latest creation. "If you do this in Cuba, Russia or red China, you are a prisoner." 

His signs are oblong, nailed to trees, plastered on railroad overpasses and leaned against highway infrastructure. Some bear only his name, something he learned was a problem when a Milford woman said she thought the signs were advertising a cult, he said.

Running low on money, he's taken to spray-painting paper signs and placing them on utility poles, which is a violation, according to transportation officials. Walker said he isn't unhappy that he has been fined by DelDOT. 

"They've left a lot that were illegal, so I can't say they've treated me unfairly," Walker said.

Congressional candidate Scott Walker makes one of his unique campaign signs in a workshop at a home off Naamans Road in Thursday afternoon.



He said the signs are an effort to build name recognition that he hopes he can parlay into support when people hear his message about job creation in debates and other public forums. 

"I'm a novice. I want people to read my name and remember it," Walker said. "The signs are unusual so they resonate."

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Most of Walker's campaign seems geared toward name recognition. His 1992 Lexus ES has "Scott Walker" plastered in large font over much of the car. His approach to canvassing is similar, favoring standing at busy intersections with his signs and waving. 

"I see their eyes. I see them smile. They wave. I wave. I give them a fist pump. They give me a fist pump," Walker said. "It's really all I can do because I don't have money. I also really enjoy it." 

It's unclear how effective Walker's approach and political signs are for generating votes, said Sam Hoff, professor of political science at Delaware State University. 

"Both as a candidate and political scientist, I have not seen too much evidence of these signs as a conversion device," Hoff said. "The general purpose is more of a reinforcement for those who do know the name rather than converting since it is an inactive form of recruitment."

He said signs serve a role in the political system as an easy way for residents to support their candidate, though social media continues to gain greater prominence for that purpose. 

"Signs are impersonal," Hoff said. "Both for showing your own views and promoting a candidate, they could certainly have an effect. But in that sense, I think local candidates think they have an effect more so than they probably have."

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.