ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The filing period for candidates in Seward County ended earlier this month, and with the August primary a little more than a month away, election season is definitely in the air.
In recent years during elections, the issue of political campaign signs has arisen, and at Monday’s county commission meeting, Administrator April Warden said she and commissioners had received phone calls about the issue.
Warden said she had conversations with County Counsel Nathan Foreman, the Kansas Secretary of State’s office, County Clerk Stacia Long and Seward County Planning and Zoning regarding the placement of political signs.
“There is a statute, K.S.A. 25-2711, that was passed in 2019,” Warden said. “That statute was put into place so cities and counties could not regulate or prohibit the placement of or the number of political signs on private property or unpaved right of ways for city streets or county roads during a 45-day period prior to the election and two days following the election.”
Warden did say, though, the county can regulate size and setback distances of signs in an effort to not impede line of sight for motorists and for other safety reasons. She added permits are not required to place political signs, and unless the county or the City of Liberal have ordinances or resolutions that state otherwise, neither entity has restrictions on placing political signs before an election.
The Secretary of State’s office told us there are several political signs already placed throughout the state,” she said. “The statute is in place and was put into place in 2019 because some cities and counties were trying to regulate the placing of those signs.”
Warden said the state statute was put in place to allow people who are campaigning to put up signs within 45 days of an election.
“Seward County does have a resolution that follows the statute,” she said. “We do not place additional restrictions regarding political signs. Our regulations do state we need to have signs removed seven days following the action in our Planning and Zoning regulations. I cannot state for you what the city’s ordinance says.”
Warden said she spoke to Liberal Zoning Administrator Keith Bridenstine Monday, and she was told signs are allowed to be removed 72 hours after election time.
“We did talk to some people who had some concerns, and we did tell them what we learned and to make sure they understood what the resolution, ordinance and statute said and why it was there,” Warden said.
Commission Vice Chair Tammy Sutherland-Abbott asked for clarifications as to whether signs could be placed on city and county property. Warden said the signs could be placed on such property.
“We don’t have anything that is more restrictive than what the statute says,” Warden said. “I can tell you the signs that have been put up. Currently, they put them on private property only with permission from those owners of that private property. However, I cannot speak for the city. When I spoke to Keith, he said they prefer people not put them in the city right of way until the 45 days they have to follow by statute.”
Foreman said the county’s resolution does have setback requirements.
“It does have more than just the statute,” he said. “There are some requirements on where they can be placed. The purpose of that is for safety. There’s also some First Amendment issues that are wrapped up in all this. The reason the statute was passed had some policy behind that you can’t restrict speech.”
Commission Chairman Scott Carr said he and Sutherland-Abbott had issues with signs being removed for their campaigns within city limits during the 2022 election. Warden said she also spoke with City Manager Rusty Varnado, and an e-mail regarding the issue was sent out to city commissioners and staff along with county commissioners and Planning and Zoning staff about the issue.
“He did say he has talked to staff because of signs being removed and them not following this in the past, and they’ve tried to remedy that so that will not happen again,” Warden said of Varnado. “They did also tell me if they remove anybody’s signs due what they feel is safety, vision or sight causing transportation issues, they do not throw the signs away. They do maintain those at City Hall. You can go by there and pick up your signs. They do know they have had issues in the past, and he said they are working through that.”
