Election’s over. Why are NJ campaign signs still everywhere?

In radio, everything has an end date.

Back in the analog days, every commercial and promo came on a tape cart with a label on the back. It had the name of the spot, a start date and an end date.

When all the audio moved into the computer about 25 years ago, the dates went right along with it. We’re diligent about getting outdated stuff off the air.

There’s nothing worse than hearing a Halloween commercial after Halloween, or a Christmas commercial in January.

You’d think the same logic would apply to campaign signs.

Gung ho going up, gone missing coming down

Campaign workers can’t wait to put those signs up. Every corner, every median, every patch of grass by the highway exit.

Taking them down? Not so much. I’ve seen them still standing months after an election.

Once the votes are counted, they’re litter. If I’m being honest, I think a lot of them are litter before Election Day, too.

🔗 It’s Election Day in NJ, and it’s 60 degrees in my house

A campaign sign by the roadside in Mercer County, with another one in the distance behind it.  (Eric “EJ” Johnson, Townsquare Media)

So what are the rules?

New Jersey doesn’t have one statewide deadline. Each town writes its own.

A common standard is about 10 days after the election, according to NorthJersey.com. Livingston gives campaigns 14 days to clear signs off public property. After that, the town can pull them and bill the candidate up to $500 for the cleanup, according to the township code.

State law also bars campaign signs on public property along highways, and NJDOT has said its crews routinely pull them.

The catch: your lawn is your lawn

A sign on your own property is protected free speech. Towns can’t single out political signs or limit them to election season, according to the ACLU of New Jersey. Courts have struck down short removal deadlines in some New Jersey towns.

So if your neighbor still has a sign up in February, that’s their call.

But a sign stuck in the dirt at a busy intersection, on a utility pole or along the highway is a different story. Many towns can remove those, and some can make the campaign pay for it.

And don’t help yourself to someone else’s sign. Taking one off private property can be considered theft.

What you can do

If signs are cluttering public property in your town, call your town’s public works department or code enforcement office and ask what the local deadline is. For state highways, contact NJDOT.

And to every campaign, win or lose: you were happy to put them up. Now take them down.

Everything has an end date.

The thoughts and opinions in this story are those of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Eric “EJ” Johnson.