Campaign sign placement actually regulated by state law

Engineers with the Missouri Department of Transportation, or MoDOT, consider campaign signs to be as unauthorized as garage-sale signs.

“Our folks typically watch out for these and make sure they’re not a nuisance,” said David Silvester, a MoDOT central district engineer. “We really try and coach folks, try to keep the signs really close to the right of way or on private property is what we prefer.”

MoDOT can install road signs and speed limit signs, but only because they are there to help travelers get to their destination safely. Having a political sign, yard sign, or even an advertising sign on a right of way is against the law. A right of way is basically the land right next to a main road, including the shoulder and the ditch.

“You can look for a fence or telephone poles,” Silvester said. “They’re really close to a right of way and a lot of times they’re on the right of way.”

Silvester said workers usually leave signs that are fairly close to the right of way line, but if there’s a sign that’s on the ditch or on the road side of a ditch, those have to go.

When there’s a sign that’s in the wrong place, workers will let the candidates or supporters know and request they pick up all the incorrect signs. If they don’t pick them up, MoDOT will grab them and hold them until someone from the candidates’ party gets them.

Even though it is a misdemeanor to put a sign on a right of way, Silvester said no one has ever been fined as a result. The worst, he said, is that they lose their signs.

Silvester said there isn’t a requirement for pickup of the signs after the election, but he said they come down pretty quickly after the day is over. If not, workers will just pick them up.

He said the main mission for having the right of ways off limits is to make sure drivers remain safe.

“Those signs can be a distraction,” Silvester said. “They can get in the way of being able to see oncoming traffic or it may be affecting your decision to make a turn.”