Do you have a neighbor that keeps his holiday lights up all year long? Here’s a way to get back. It’s election season, and political yard signs are popping up everywhere. But, did you know that Illinois state law allows homeowners to display political yard signs all year long?
In the past, many cities and villages in Illinois only allowed homeowners to display political yard signs within a few weeks of an election day. If you displayed your sign too early, or too late after an election, you would have been breaking the law. However, Governor Pat Quinn has signed a law barring municipalities from regulating when political signs can be displayed on residential property.
The Quinn administration said the new law, which went into effect on January 1, 2011, would bring Illinois into compliance with a 1994 U.S. Supreme Court ruling indicating that political signs are protected “free speech” under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. See City of LaDue v. Gilleo, 512 U.S. 43 (1994). Under the new law, however, municipalities can still regulate the size and number of political signs, as long as any such restrictions are “content neutral” and “reasonable”.
So maybe there is a way to “convince” your neighbor to take down those Christmas lights in March after all. Just gather a whole bunch of his most disliked political candidate’s yard signs and point them at his yard. When he asks what the heck your doing, kindly suggest that you will remove your yard signs if he takes down his Christmas lights. He’ll be on his ladder in five minutes. Perhaps.
To view the state statute, go to: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=3785&GAID=10&DocTypeID=HB&SessionID=76&GA=96
For more information, contact our attorneys at: www.DGLLC.net/contact.