I arrived at work this morning to find campaign signs on the Courthouse lawn. They are outside of the 100 feet, but I have been asked if this is legal. I know that municipalities have the authority to regulate campaign signage, but does the County have any such authority?

A county may not give a citizen any "thing", including the use of it's name. Use of county land for advertising purposes is a "thing" for which one conceivably could be paid.

Therefore, the county cannot condone political signs on its property.

Lisa L. Peterson
Nolan County Attorney

Thank you, Lisa.

I don't think you'll find that there is anything like a consensus on this issue. If all are equally able to post signs, it's not a gift or endorsement. Obviously, if only one party's candidates may post (or only incumbents, etc.), you have a serious problem.

Be careful before limiting electioneering in any form outside the 100 foot marker. See Election Code ch. 43.

No one ever requested permission to put the signs out, so the County has certainly not limited any candidate at this point. And since it is public property, I want to be sure that we're not going to get into any free speech issues by trying to prohibit or regulate the placements.

My thought on the subject, when asked by our clerk and commissioners, was that this is political speech occurring in the public square, which seems to be the quintessential example of the speech protected by the First Amendment. I am a little leery of prohibiting signage on county property (outside the electioneering limit). Of course, we have not ever had anyone put up their sign before Election Day.

I had not considered Lisa's Article III, sec. 52(a) argument, though.

I agree with Ms. Diamond...be very careful about limiting a candidate's ability to "electioneer" on the premises of a polling place. Public buildings are the preferred location for polling places. Tex. Elec. C. Sec. 43.031(c). While electioneering is not specifically mentioned in regard to public buildings, the Election Code does require that a private building may not be used as a polling place, "...unless electioneering is permitted on the building's premises outside the prescribed limits within which electioneering is prohibited..." Tex. Elec. C. Sec. 43.031(d). It seems to follow that if a public building is used, it, too, must accommodate electioneering.

I appreciate all the input. As a practical matter, I don't think that avoiding campaign signs on the lawn for a couple of weeks is worth taking a chance on violating a civil right. Hopefully, I can convince our Commissioners likewise.

You must weigh the rights of vegetation to be free of political signs versus the 1st Amendment right to support a political candidate. Or you can claim the right of a public building to be pretty -- but I wouldn't want to go there. I agree that you cannot become a billboard for every kind of political hectoring but signs on the grass during early voting seems a funny place to take a stand.
Having tried to write a policy on this it is not an easy task. And the caselaw is muddled at best.

I'm so thoughtless--I had not even considered the rights of the vegetation. Was the policy you wrote ever adopted?

Every draft suffered from massive First Amendment fail.