“I’ll just tell them to take them down,” Warren County Administrator Dave Gully said after the vote on the sign policy, which applies to any sign posted on any county property.
One campaigner, Jack Chrisman, complained after signs he had posted were removed from an area outside where early voting is being conducted.
The policy is the result of an informal ban begun last fall after campaign signs were posted outside the early voting location in the election board office in Lebanon.
Signs from other campaigns were left posted after those posted by Chrisman were replaced. Signs were still posted Tuesday after the meeting.
Ray Warrick, one of the candidates backed by Chrisman, said his campaigners would remove those put up by Chrisman and others added by other supporters, although he believed the policy infringed on constitutional protections for freedom of speech.
“It all seems odd,” Warrick said after Tuesday’s vote. “It violates the First Amendment.”
But Gully and Assistant County Prosecutor Bruce McGary said the policy was legal as long as it applied to all signs posted on county property.
“No signs. It’s across the board and there’s no exceptions to that,” McGary said.
While allowed to ban posted signs, the county must permit those held, worn or otherwise supported by a person, McGary said.
Gully said part of the problem was due to the false assumption that the posting of signs should be permitted on county property, because the county government serves residents and businesses of Warren County.
“It’s awkward,” Gully said. “People for some reason think they have a right to put up signs on public property.”
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