As the dust continues to settle from Tuesday’s municipal election, Columbus City Council candidates have been traveling around the city to pick up the final remnants of their campaigns — a couple thousand campaign signs.
The 15 city council candidates said they collectively put up around 2,130 campaign signs across the city — ranging from 6-square-foot yard signs to 32-square-foot banners, many of them placed in voter’s yards, in front of businesses and on vacant lots.
“They’re like dandelions,” said Republican District 5 representative Tim Shuffett, who added that he had put up around 30 signs for his successful re-election bid. “They all pop up at one time, and they’re like weeds trying to get rid of them.”
The number of signs varies by candidate.
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Republican city council at-large candidate Josh Burnett put up the most signs of any candidate, with some 450 signs placed at different points across the city. Burnett said he hopes to have all the signs taken down by today.
On the other end of the spectrum was District 3 representative David Bush, as well as Shuffett, who each put up about 30 signs.
The Democratic candidates reported placing a total of 1,240 signs, compared to 810 signs for Republican candidates. Five of the seven GOP candidates put up 75 or fewer signs. Only two of the seven Democratic candidates had fewer than 100 signs, and four Democratic candidates had more than 200 signs.
Independent District 1 candidate Michael Kinder said he put up around 80 signs.
Kinder, who lost the District 1 race to Democrat Jerone Wood, said he spent Thursday morning collecting his campaign signs. Kinder said he kept a spreadsheet with the location of each sign.
“I think it’s kind of a relief knowing that my mindset isn’t in campaign mode,” Kinder said. “I don’t feel sad about it. I feel that we did a good job, and we did as much as we could. Right now, it feels like an Easter egg hunting seeing if they’re still out where I think they’re at.”
Democratic incumbent Tom Dell, who won a second term on one of the city council at-large seats on Tuesday, said getting requests for signs from voters can be a “humbling” experience, but isn’t sure how much of a difference the signs make come election day.
Dell said his campaign put out around 225 yard signs.
“It’s humbling that people literally ask you and say, ‘I want one of your yard signs. I want a sign with your name on it in my yard.’ That is humbling,” Dell said.
Republican Laurie Booher, who lost her bid to be re-elected to one of the city council at-large seats, said she spent several hours on Wednesday driving around Columbus and picking up some 100 campaign signs.
“A loss is never easy, but I know I did the best I could, and the last four years I’ve worked hard to represent the people,” Booher said. “I also think everything happens for a reason.”
Rules, but no deadlines
Under the current rules, there is no deadline for candidates to pick up their signs, city officials said, in reference to the Columbus and Bartholomew County Zoning Ordinance.
The ordinance, which was approved by the city council and Bartholomew County Commissioners in 2018, also establishes that all political signs, referred to as “non-commercial messages,” must be at least 5 feet from any side of the property and not exceed 32 square feet in size, depending on the how the property is zoned, among other requirements, said Jeff Bergman, Columbus and Bartholomew County planning director.
Signs with non-commercial messages placed on single and two-family residential and agricultural properties cannot be more than 6-square-feet or more than six feet tall.
“These political signs fall in the broad category of non-commercial speech,” Bergman said. ‘Save the whales’ or whatever political or social issue that someone want to express themselves on is regulated by this same regulations. There is no regulation that is specific for political signs and it has to be that way because of everyone’s constitutional rights to free speech.”
Previously, candidates had five days after the election to pick up their signs, according to the text of the previous ordinance.
Though there is no deadline for the candidates to pick up their signs, all 15 candidates said they expected their signs would be picked up by the end of the week, including Booher, Bush and Shuffett, who said they had picked up all their signs by Wednesday afternoon.
Fred Barnett, Columbus code enforcement officer, said he has not received any reports of campaign signage violations, though “a few signs” were inadvertently placed in public right-of-way and needed to be moved.
“There were a few that were in the public right-of-way that were moved,” Barnett said. “Typically, the candidate knows the rules, but the person who is putting the signs out may not know the rules.”
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Under the current rules, there is no deadline for candidates to pick up their campaign signs, city officials said, pointing to the Columbus and Bartholomew County Zoning Ordinance.
The ordinance, which was approved by the city council and Bartholomew County Commissioners in 2018, also establishes that all political signs, referred to as a type of "non-commercial message," must be at least 5 feet from any side of the property and not exceed 32 square feet in size, depending on the how the property is zoned, among other requirements, said Jeff Bergman, Columbus and Bartholomew County planning director.
Signs with non-commercial messages placed on single and two-family residential and agricultural properties cannot be more than 6 square feet or more than 6 feet tall.
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