LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. — After Election Day, campaign signs that sprouted along roadsides, in yards and outside polling places often linger. State law places the responsibility for removing campaign signs on the campaigns themselves, and municipalities can step in if they are not removed.
Political signs are considered temporary and must be taken down shortly after an election, depending on municipal rules. Signs may not be placed within PennDOT’s right-of-way along state roads, highways and intersections, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Any sign located there is considered an illegal encroachment.
Signs posted on private property are allowed, but only with the permission of the property owner. Once the election is over, campaign committees are expected to collect them promptly.
Lori McFarland, chair of the Lehigh County Democratic Committee, said most municipalities set a clear timeline.
“Municipalities have a time limit for which signs need to be removed, typically seven days,” McFarland said. “As the local party leader, when volunteers put the signs out, we always remind them to remove them within the first seven days. If the signs are not removed, the municipality will remove and dispose of them. It will be a loss to the candidate if they want them back.”
Local and statewide campaigns spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each election cycle printing signs and other materials. While yard signs are one of the most recognizable campaign tools, they are disposable and often not recycled. Plastic campaign signage can generate millions of pounds of waste in a major election year.
PennDOT warns that when signs are left behind, they can create safety hazards and obstruct visibility. Poles, metal stakes and plastic fragments can become road debris and pose risks to drivers, pedestrians and PennDOT workers.
After the Nov. 4 elections across the Lehigh Valley and the rest of Pennsylvania, many campaigns have already begun post-election cleanup operations. For local committees, that means mobilizing the same volunteers who placed the signs to take them down.
Clusters of campaign signs are expected to thin out quickly. If they don’t, local public works crews remove them and dispose of them.
