Political Campaign Signs: Yard Signs, Banners and Rules

Which Campaign Print Product Fits Each Job?

Match each product to one job and one reading distance.

Yard signs are 4 mm coroplast, UV printed on one side or both. Single signs leave stakes as an add-on; the packs and kits include one wire H-stake per sign. Browse every campaign product on the political signs page.

How Many Campaign Signs Should You Order?

Order one sign per confirmed placement, plus a small reserve for signs that get damaged, moved or requested late. Do not order from population or voter counts. A sign in a garage does nothing, so the count should come from a list of addresses with permission attached.

Write the list first: supporter lawns, approved business frontage, event sites. Add a reserve, subtract good signs you already own, and that is the order. The full method, with a worked example, is in how many yard signs a local campaign needs.

What Rules Apply to Political Campaign Signs?

Two kinds of rules apply: what the sign must say, and where and when it may stand. Both vary by state, and placement rules also vary by city, county and homeowners association. This is general information, not legal advice.

What the sign must say. Many states require political advertising to state that it is paid political advertising and to name who paid for it or who authorized it. Some states require extra wording on signs that can be seen from a highway. Get the exact line from your state election office or campaign treasurer, and give it enough room on the sign to be read.

Where it may stand. The safe rule everywhere is private property with the owner's permission, outside the public right of way. The right of way often runs past the curb or the edge of the pavement, so a strip of grass that looks like part of a lawn may be public. Signs on utility poles, traffic signs and trees in the right of way are generally not allowed.

When it may stand. Some cities and homeowners associations limit how early signs may go up and set a deadline for taking them down after the election. Check the current rule where each sign will stand.

What Makes Campaign Sign Artwork Readable?

A big name, high contrast and very few words. A driver passing at 30 miles per hour gets a second or two with the sign, so the name has to carry it.

1. The name is the largest thing on the sign. A common rule of thumb is one inch of capital letter height for every 10 feet of reading distance.
2. The office goes on one short line, with the district if voters need it.
3. Use two or three colors with strong contrast. Dark navy on white, white on red and white on navy all read well from the street.
4. Keep the bottom 2 inches clear. Stake legs and grass cover that strip.
5. Fit the disclosure line in plain type, usually along the bottom above the stake zone.

Leave off the election date and year if you may reuse the signs in a runoff or a future race.

Should Campaign Signs Be Single or Double Sided?

Choose by how traffic meets each sign. A sign set perpendicular to the street is read by cars from both directions, so a double-sided sign does twice the work from the same stake. Corner lots, medians on private land and signs near intersections are the same case.

A sign set flat against a fence, a building or a hedge only ever shows one face. Single sided is the honest choice there, and it costs less. Every campaign yard sign size offers both, and both faces carry the same artwork, so the voter sees the same name either way.

How Do You Manage Campaign Sign Inventory and Removal?

Treat signs like inventory with an owner. One person holds the master list of placements and the reserve, and every volunteer reports each sign placed, replaced or removed with its address.

Check placements on a schedule during the race. Signs get knocked over by mowers and weather or moved by passersby, and a quick weekly drive of each route catches them. The reserve exists for these replacements.

After the election, the same list becomes the pickup list. Some places set a removal deadline, so give every volunteer a pickup date. Store reusable signs flat and dry with their stakes bundled beside them.

What Should You Check on Campaign Artwork Proofs?

Read the proof as a voter would, then as the treasurer would. Every order includes a free digital proof.

• Spelling of the candidate's name and the office. Read it letter by letter.
• The disclosure line. Exact wording, and large enough to read on the finished sign.
• Both faces of a double-sided sign. Same artwork, right side up.
• Colors and photos. A candidate photo should be a high resolution original, not a screenshot.
• Consistency. The signs, door hangers and banners should use the same name treatment and colors.

How Do You Order and Schedule Campaign Prints?

Pick the products, upload your files or ask us to design them, approve the proofs, and production starts. Yard signs print the next business day, door hangers in 3 to 5 business days, banners in 3 business days and marketing kits in 5 to 7 business days. Everything is printed in the USA and ships for a flat $10 per product to any US address.

If you have a logo or a file made in Canva or ChatGPT, AI image to print makes it print ready for $14.99 per item. Design it for me builds the layout from scratch for $29.99 with two revisions. Plan the dates backward from your first placement day with the election season timeline, then start with the standard 18 x 24 inch yard sign.