ANDERSON — It’s less than a month before Election Day, and campaign ads are everywhere you look.
According to the city of Anderson, however, there’s one place they shouldn’t be: in city rights of way.
Anderson’s Municipal Development Department gave notice Friday to all candidates and both major parties with campaign signs along roads that they must be moved behind sidewalks or power pole lines by Tuesday or risk being removed.
“We have received numerous complaints and after discussion with senior administration and review with our city legal, we decided to take action and to apply it fairly and evenly,” said Michael Widing, Municipal Development director.
Complaints had come in from citizens who knew city ordinance rules regulating campaign signs and had wanted to make sure both parties were being fair, he said.
“They feel like everybody should abide by the law,” he said.
Under city ordinances, signs are not to be in public street rights of way or on power poles, telephone poles, trees or parked vehicles in a right of way. Political signs do not need permits, but must be placed only on private property.
Widing would not say which candidates seemed to be violating the ordinance the most, but said two were the most frequent culprits.
“By observation, I see two candidates that are probably more aggressive about that,” he said.
Widing’s office tried to contact each candidate and party Friday to make sure the signs are moved before Tuesday, when Municipal Development representatives will remove them.
Once signs are removed, candidates have 30 days to pick them up at the Municipal Development office before the office disposes of them.
Widing said the complaints had been coming in over the past week to 10 days, but he didn’t remember getting any complaints of signs in the rights of way in past election seasons.
Representatives from both the Democrat and Republican parties of Madison County could not be reached Friday for comment.
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