PLACERVILLE — A campaign sign can be little more than a few square feet of corrugated plastic and a political slogan. But where that sign is planted can turn a routine campaign tactic into a legal question.
A recent controversy over the placement of a campaign sign for a candidate for El Dorado County supervisor has put that question back in the local spotlight.
The dispute also provides a useful reminder for candidates, campaign volunteers, property owners and voters: California does not have one single rule governing campaign signs. Several layers of law can apply, depending on whether the sign is on private property, county property, a public right of way or near a state highway.
And simply being a political sign does not automatically make it legal.
Public property: California Penal Code Section 556
California Penal Code Section 556 makes it a misdemeanor to place or maintain, without lawful permission, an advertising sign or similar material on property belonging to the state, a city, or a county. The statute expressly covers material advertising or bringing attention to a person, business, profession or other subject.
That language matters during election season because a campaign sign promotes a candidate.
In practical terms, a campaign worker cannot simply look at an attractive patch of government-owned land and decide it would make a good location for a candidate’s sign.
The same basic principle applies to county rights of way under El Dorado County’s own sign regulations.
The county’s current Sign Ordinance states that election signs are prohibited in the county right of way and may not obstruct or interfere with motorists, traffic signals or traffic-control devices. The county also prohibits signs from being attached to structures in a public right of way or placed on publicly owned trees, fences or utility poles.
Private property is different — but permission still matters
Private property does not mean a campaign can place whatever it wants wherever it wants.
California Penal Code Section 556.1 makes it a misdemeanor to place or maintain an advertising sign on property where the person has no right of possession without the consent of the owner, lessee or person lawfully possessing the property.
That creates a straightforward rule for campaigns:
If it is someone else’s private property, get permission first.
A candidate, campaign committee or volunteer should not assume that a vacant-looking parcel, roadside area or piece of landscaping is available for political advertising.
Property ownership and the boundaries of public rights of way are not always obvious from the road.
That distinction can become particularly important along heavily traveled roads, where the land immediately adjacent to pavement may belong to a private property owner, the county, Caltrans or another public entity.
A sign can become a public nuisance
California Penal Code Section 556.3 provides that a sign placed contrary to Sections 556 or 556.1 is a public nuisance.
There is an important distinction here.
Section 556.3 establishes the legal classification of the improperly placed sign as a public nuisance. Separately, El Dorado County’s sign regulations authorize the immediate removal of signs that are in the county right of way or otherwise violate the county’s Sign Ordinance.
That means a campaign should not assume that a disputed sign will remain in place while ownership or legality is debated.
County rules specifically provide for removal of signs that violate the ordinance.
The exceptions are important
California Penal Code Section 556.2 provides several exceptions to the restrictions.
The law does not prohibit notices required by law or court order, notices pertaining specifically to the property on which they are posted, or signs used exclusively to provide public information about the name, direction or condition of a highway, street, lane, road or alley.
In other words, a government road sign and a political campaign sign are operating under entirely different legal rules.
What about signs near Highway 50?
For El Dorado County campaigns, the issue becomes even more important along U.S. Highway 50 and other state-maintained highways.
Caltrans says temporary political signs may qualify for a state-law exemption from normal outdoor-advertising restrictions, but they may not be placed within the right of way of a state highway.
Caltrans also says qualifying temporary political signs must:
- Encourage a particular vote in a scheduled election.
- Be installed no sooner than 90 days before the election.
- Be removed within 10 days after the election.
- Be no larger than 32 square feet.
- Have a Statement of Responsibility filed identifying the person responsible for removal.
Caltrans puts the warning plainly: “State law directs the Department of Transportation to remove unauthorized temporary political signs.”
There is another wrinkle.
Political signs placed on private property within 660 feet of a state highway and visible from the highway can trigger Caltrans requirements. On classified landscaped freeways, even stricter visibility restrictions can apply.
For a campaign operating along Highway 50, therefore, private property does not necessarily end the analysis.
El Dorado County has its own election-sign rules
El Dorado County’s current Sign Ordinance, Chapter 130.36 of the County Zoning Ordinance, applies to unincorporated areas of the county. The county updated the ordinance in 2025, with the changes becoming effective Oct. 16, 2025.
For election signs, the county currently allows temporary signs displaying noncommercial messages subject to size and placement restrictions.
Under the county’s current guidance, noncommercial signs generally are limited to six square feet and must be set back at least five feet from the public right of way. During the 60-day period before a special, general or primary election through two weeks after the election, the total allowed sign area for noncommercial messages can increase to 32 square feet.
That is an important change from older county campaign-sign materials that referenced a 90-day election window. Candidates and campaigns should therefore use the current County Sign Ordinance rather than relying on an old campaign packet circulating online.
The sign’s location matters more than the political message
The central question in a disputed campaign-sign case is not necessarily whether someone likes or dislikes the candidate.
It is more basic:
Who owns the property, and did the person placing the sign have legal permission to put it there?
That can require checking parcel boundaries, public-right-of-way maps, county records and, where applicable, Caltrans jurisdiction.
A sign sitting three feet from the pavement might appear to be on private property while actually being within a government right of way. Conversely, property that looks like public roadside land may actually be privately owned.
That is why simply looking at a photograph of a sign is not always enough to determine whether the placement was lawful.
Who is responsible for an improperly placed sign?
California Penal Code Section 556.4 provides that information appearing on certain signs may be used as evidence and may create an inference concerning who is responsible for posting the sign. The statute specifically identifies information associated with real estate brokers, commercial-property owners or lessees, and event sponsors or promoters.
One caution is warranted here: Section 556.4 does not specifically say that a candidate’s name printed on a political sign automatically creates an inference that the candidate personally placed it.
Responsibility for a campaign sign can involve the candidate, campaign committee, volunteer, property owner or another person, depending on the facts.
That distinction matters when accusations of an “illegal sign” begin flying.
Political speech does not erase property law
Campaign signs are political speech, and political speech receives constitutional protection.
But that does not mean a campaign has an unrestricted right to place its signs on somebody else’s property or in a government right of way.
The law generally regulates where and how a sign may be displayed rather than simply whether authorities approve of its political message.
For candidates preparing for the November 2026 election, the safest approach is remarkably old-fashioned: know the property, know the rules and get permission before pounding the stake into the ground.
In El Dorado County, that means checking the current county Sign Ordinance, determining whether the location falls within a public right of way, obtaining permission when the property is private and checking Caltrans requirements when a sign is associated with a state highway.
A campaign sign may be small.
The legal boundary around it is not.
Sources: El Dorado County Planning and Building, current Sign Ordinance guidance; El Dorado County Elections candidate sign materials; California Penal Code §§ 556-556.4; California Department of Transportation guidance on temporary political signs.
