Free Speech
I suppose an election in the Keys wouldn’t be complete without a little controversy over political signs. The latest, reported in The Keynoter, is in Marathon. In the past, Marathon had their seat elections in March. Their City Code allowed for political signs to be placed 45 days prior to an election.
When they moved their elections to coincide with County-wide elections, they didn’t change their sign ordinance. So folks who are in a primary have to place their signs 45 days before that primary, then pull them up after the primary, store them for about 20 days, and then place them again 45 days before the general election. While primary candidates have the inconvenience of placing, pulling and placing signs again, they also have the advantage of receiving twice the exposure of those who don’t have a primary. And all this placing and pulling is on private property, not just public rights-of-way.
Our campaign team asked about this ordinance before placing any signs, and were initially told that it didn’t matter if you were in a primary or not, you could place your signs 45 days prior to the primary. We were also told that the City recognized the illogical quality of the ordinance, and would not enforce it between the primary and the general election.
I believe in playing by the rules, and I would not want any supporter to be cited for having one of my signs up outside of the 45 days. While our campaign does not endorse disregarding the rules, we do understand that some folks may choose to exercise their right to free speech on their private property. We do hope the Marathon City Council will revisit this ordinance, and perhaps draft a revision that will take into account the impracticalities, legal and fairness issues of the 45-day rule.
