Photo by daveinshaw

It’s been a month since D.C.’s April 3 primary, but you could be forgiven for thinking that Pete Ross is still running for Shadow Senator or Calvin Gurley is still hoping to replace Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4). Their campaign signs are still hanging on D.C. streetlights and road signs, after all. But that’s against the rules, and the campaigns can be fined if they don’t start tearing down those old campaign signs right quick.

“If the signs are posted on lampposts in violation of the sign regulations—including signs posted for more than 30 days after the event for which it is posted—the fine is $150 for the first violation, $300 for the second violation, $600 for the third violation and $2,000 for the fourth violation—all within a 60-day period,” said John Lisle, spokesman for the D.C. Department of Transportation. (Though the rules are DDOT’s, enforcement is the purview of the Department of Public Works.)

Rules regulating signs posted in public spaces changed last year, and now signs can be posted for a total of 180 days and must be removed 30 days after the event they are advertising. The rules are often lightly or unevenly enforced, though—there’s still a Clark Ray campaign sign from 2010 forlornly hanging from a street light along Georgia Avenue.