Town Of Londonderry Addresses Sign Stealing Before Election Day

Press release from the Town of Londonderry:

October 26, 2020

With Election Day approaching, Londonderry Police Department has received several inquiries on this topic. The purpose of this memorandum is to set forth the law regarding political signs.

Private Property
Political signs may be placed on private property with the consent of the owner. RSA 664:17. Signs placed on private property without the owner’s consent may be removed.

Id. An owner of private property would be entitled to remove some, but not all, of the signs placed on his or her property because an owner may consent to some, but not all, of the signs placed on his or her property.

Public Property and Public Rights-of-Way
Under the same statute, “No political advertising may be placed on any public property including highway rights-of-way without the owner's consent.” Id. Most town roads are “rights-of-way,” which means the town holds an easement for public travel, but the abutting property owners own the underlying property to the center line of the road. In general, town rights-of-way are fifty feet wide.

Under this scenario, the owners of the underlying property could with respect to political signs exercise the rights of owners of private property set forth above (i.e., to remove signs). If the private property owner consents (or does not object) to the placement of signs, the Town has the separate right to remove signs to which it does not consent from its right-of-way. This right is discretionary and not mandatory. See id. (“Political advertising placed on or affixed to any public property may be removed by state, city, or town maintenance or law enforcement personnel.”) (Emphasis supplied.)

Notwithstanding its right to remove political advertising from any Town right-of-way, it is the Town’s policy not to remove political advertising from Town rights-of-way unless the advertising obstructs the safe flow of traffic.

It should be noted that political signs are not permitted on utility poles or highway signs.

State Roads
Political advertising may be placed within state-owned rights-of-way as long as the advertising does not obstruct the safe flow of traffic and the advertising is placed with the consent of the owner of the land over which the right-of-way passes. Id.

Unauthorized Removal
No person is permitted to “remove, deface, or knowingly destroy any political advertising which is placed on or affixed to public or any private property except for removal by the owner of the property, persons authorized by the owner of the property, or a law enforcement officer removing improper advertising.” Id.

This press release was produced by the Town of Londonderry. The views expressed here are the author's own.