JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The law only allows for smaller political campaign signs in neighborhoods, but for this year's city elections, candidates seem to believe bigger is better.
News4Jax has been investigating the use of illegal campaign signs around town.
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The rules are fairly straightforward:
- Political signs can be placed only on private property -- with the permission of the property owner -- and not on public property.
- For residential property, they can only be 4-square feet in size and not more than 6 feet off the ground.
- There can also be only one sign per candidate on the same property, but there can be signs for multiple candidates on the same property.
- Large signs are only allowed in business areas.
The candidates News4Jax spoke to said they were aware of the rules and signed a paper when they qualified, saying they had read and understood them.
DOCUMENT: Political sign guidelines from city
"Most of the abuse in the past has been placing signs on city right of ways," Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said. "People have been placing them in the median between the sidewalk and the curb. That's typically been the infraction that we noticed. Now this term, people like the big signs and want to put them everywhere, and they are just not allowed in residential areas."
It's up to the city to enforce the rules.
On Monday, News4Jax found many signs on the Southside that were against the guidelines, including signs for mayoral candidates Bill Bishop and Lenny Curry that were too large for a residential property. After News4Jax began investigating, the Curry sign was taken down.
"If supporters are over zealous we enjoy their enthusiasm," said Brian Hughes, Curry's campaign manager. "We will let them know the right way to do things."
Bishop told News4Jax he would remove his large sign of Curry did the same thing next door. Tuesday morning, though, the Bishop sign was still up.
News4Jax also found illegal campaign signs for sheriff candidates. Jay Farhat had numerous signs that were questionable, including one along Hendricks Avenue that was too large. The homeowner said he gave the campaign permission to put the sign on his property, but it was removed Tuesday when News4Jax contacted Farhat about it.
Jimmy Holderfield also had large signs in places where they should not be, including a home on the Southside, and he had a sign in a public right of way on Philips Highway.
"It's my responsibility as a candidate. Obviously, I have a lot of volunteers that mean well. We have gone over the requirements that are city ordinance. Any violations -- we will do anything we can to prevent it," Holderfield told News4Jax. "Any of them that might have occurred we will correct immediately."
The sign at the Southside house was removed Tuesday, but the sign on Philips Highway remained.
Sheriff candidate Ken Jefferson also had questionable signs in place. He said he would take care of them and when News4Jax checked Tuesday, the large signs had been replaced with smaller, legal ones.
Other candidates for sheriff and city council also had questionable signs in place.
At the end of the month the city is hosting a candidate workshop and will be discussing the rules for campaign signs.