"Paid For By" Campaign Yard Signs Laws
State-By-State Paid For and Disclosure Laws for Political Advertising and Yard Signs
This list of campaign signs laws is meant to serve as a guide to local political candidates and their committees. This list was not prepared by prepared by an attorney. Therefore, questions about your geographically-specific campaign signs laws must be consulted with a qualified legal professional working in campaign law. If you don't know where to start, contact your local county party office or your state party office. Please also note that there may be local laws or ordinances that govern disclaimers and their language as well.
Additionally, there are laws that are specific to 3rd party entities and advocacy groups that purchase/create signs to help a candidate (similar to a 527on the national level). These laws are NOT listed below.
If you have specific information that will help add to, clarify or keep this list updated, please supply it. While this list is considered accurate, you should check with a qualified legal professional to give you an opinion.
FEDERAL CANDIDATES: Must have the "Paid for by Whatever the Official Name of Your Campaign Is" for instance "Paid for by Jim Johnson for US Senate" (no quotes) and then have a box around said disclaimer. Please note fundraising issues are very different than Campaign Signs Disclosure Laws and this list have nothing to do with campaign fundraising.
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| Alabama | Must display the person, candidate, principal campaign committee, or political action committee responsible for the publication or distribution or display of the promotional items. |
| Alaska | No disclosure required on signs or other promotional items. |
| Arizona | No disclosure required on signs or other promotional items unless paid for by someone other than the candidate or committee. |
| Arkansas | |
| California | Disclosure must say "Major funding by" or "Paid for by" and be at least 5% in height and in a contrasting color. |
| Colorado | Colorado statute is silent on the issue of paid for statement, unless it is an independent expenditure. |
| Connecticut | Signs smaller than 32 sq/ft do not need attribution. |
| Delaware | All campaign literature or advertising, except on items with a surface of less than 9 square inches, shall display prominently the statement: "Paid for by (name of political committee or other person paying for such literature or advertising)." |
| District of Columbia | All newspaper or magazine advertising, posters, circulars, billboards, handbills, bumper stickers, sample ballots, initiative, referendum, or recall petitions, and other printed matter with reference to or intended for the support or defeat of a candidate or group of candidates for nomination or election to any public office, or for the support or defeat of any initiative, referendum, or recall measure, shall be identified by the words "paid for by" followed by the name and address of the payer or the committee or other person and its treasurer on whose behalf the material appears. |
| Florida | Any political advertisement that is paid for by a candidate and that is published, displayed, or circulated prior to, or on the day of, any election must prominently state: "Political advertisement paid for and approved by (name of candidate), (party affiliation), for (office sought)." |
| Georgia | Georgia Code has no requirements pertaining to identification of campaign literature. (We assume this to mean signs and other promotional materials would be considered literature as well.) |
| Hawaii | All advertisements shall contain the name and address of the candidate, committee, party, or person paying for the advertisement. |
| Idaho | Whenever any person makes an expenditure for the purpose of financing communications expressly advocating the election, approval or defeat of a candidate or measure through any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, direct mailing, or any other type of general public political advertising, the person responsible for such communication shall be clearly indicated on such communication. |
| Illinois | Must identify the name and address of the candidate on signs and promotional items, with the exception of items too small to print said information. |
| Indiana | No disclosure required on signs or other promotional items. |
| Iowa | Must identify the name and address of the candidate or committee on signs and promotional items. |
| Kansas | 'Paid for' or 'Sponsored by' followed by the name of the chairperson or treasurer of the political or other organization sponsoring the same or the name of the individual who is responsible therefore is required. |
| Kentucky | All newspaper or magazine advertising, posters, circulars, billboards, handbills, sample ballots shall be identified by the words "paid for by" followed by the name and address of the individual or committee which paid for the communication except that if paid for by a candidate, slate of candidates, or campaign committee, it shall be identified only by the words "paid for by" followed by the name of the candidate, slate of candidates, or campaign committee, whichever is applicable. |
| Louisiana | After much research, and then a reach out to the Louisiana Secretary of State's office, no one could find an answer. They have a lot of laws, just seems like no one knows them. |
| Maine | If authorized by a candidate, a candidate's authorized political committee or their agents, must clearly and conspicuously state that the communication has been so authorized and must clearly state the name and address of the person who made or financed the expenditure for the communication. Must say AUTHORIZED BY CANDIDATE. |
| Maryland | The following is required: "This message has been authorized and paid for by (name of payor or any organization affiliated with the payor), (name and title of treasurer or president) and address of payor. If the Secretary of State has the payor's address on file, that may be omitted. If the campaign material is too small to include all the information in a legible manner, the authority line need only contain the name and title of the treasurer or other person responsible for it. |
| Massachusetts | No disclosure required on signs or other promotional items. The law was repealed. |
| Michigan | Michigan conspired with Washington to write their law. They require the words "paid for by" and then the full address on signs and everything produced by a campaign, then they've gone onto making a list of "exempt" items, including bumper stickers, lapel stickers, buttons, envelopes (yes, envelopes) t-shirts, wooden nickels...and more. For a complete list, visit http://bit.ly/3QWZXS. |
| Minnesota | Must identify the name and address of the candidate on signs and promotional items. |
| Mississippi | The law can be found in the Mississippi Code § 23-15-897. It is flowery, confusing and poorly written. It looks like the easiest thing is to say "Paid Political Advertisement by CANDIDATE'S NAME OR COMMITTEE." The law specifically states "a notice, placard, bill, poster, dodger, pamphlet, advertisement or any other form of publication" which would not unclude any promotional items, as promotional items are considered not to be published. They are produced, imprinted and/or manufactured. |
| Missouri | Must identify the name of the candidate on signs and promotional items with "Paid for by" with the candidate's name following. Should the items be paid by a committee, disclaimer should read "Paid for by (COMMITTEE)" followed by the name of the treasurer and his/her title (Treasurer). |
| Montana | All printing of political advertising must read "paid for by" followed by the name and address of the person who made or financed the expenditure for the communication. When a candidate or a candidate's campaign finances the expenditure, the attribution must be the name and the address of the candidate or the candidate's campaign. In the case of a political committee, the attribution must be the name of the committee, the name of the committee treasurer, and the address of the committee or the committee treasurer. |
| Nebraska | No disclosure required on signs or other promotional items. |
| Nevada | No disclosure required on signs or other promotional items. |
| New Hampshire | Candidates are required to identify who is paying for the signs, along with their address. We would assume "Paid for by" with name and address would be the proper format. |
| New Jersey | Must identify the name and address of the candidate or committee on promotional items and state the item has been financed by that committee, group or person. |
| New Mexico | Their Secretary of State did not respond to repeated information requests. No laws can be found on NM government websites. |
| New York | Must identify the name and address of the candidate on promotional items. |
| North Carolina | All promotional items must includes the statement: "Paid for by __________ [Name of candidate, candidate campaign committee, political party organization, political action committee, referendum committee, individual, or other sponsor]. Must be 5% or 12pt in size. |
| North Dakota | North Dakota laws on this are odd. It appears political campaign buttons are exempt however the first and last name of a candidate must be identified. It does imply that "Paid for by" should proceed this, however it's not clear. Go figure. |
| Ohio | The name and residence or business address of the candidate or the chairperson, treasurer, or secretary of the campaign committee, legislative campaign fund, political party, or other entity that issues or otherwise is responsible for that political publication or that makes an expenditure for that political communication appears in a conspicuous place on that political publication or is contained within that political communication. Based on Ohio Administrative Code 111-5-19, the following exemptions apply to Ohio campaign supplies: 1) Badges or buttons 2) Balloons 3) Cups and mugs 4) Combs 5) Emery boards 6) Key tags 7) Lapel pins, charms, tie tacks, rings, and other items of jewelry 8) Letter openers 9) Pencils 10) Pens 11) Standard measuring rulers not more than twelve inches long 12) Sponges 13) Golf balls and golf tees 14) Tee shirts, caps, hats, and other articles of clothing 15) Individually wrapped candy 16) Magnets measuring two and one-half inches by three inches or less, or seven and one-half square inches or less, or three inches in diameter or less 17) Stickers, labels, decals, or any other printed material with an adhesive back measuring two and one-half inches by three inches or less, or seven and one-half square inches or less, or three inches in diameter or less. 18) Plastic discs, designed to be sailed with a flip of the wrist for recreation or competition 19) Plastic bags 20) Plastic or wooden sticks manufactured for the purpose of stirring paint 21) Plastic flyswatters 22) Banners that are towed by an aircraft in flight. |
| Oklahoma | The OK Ethics Commission reports there is a law on the books that requires the name and address on signs. They also say many candidates put "Paid for by" on in front of the name and address. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit found that this provision could not withstand a challenge based upon the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression. Again, who knows. |
| Oregon | It is recommend that you disclose who authorized and paid for the piece, but it is not required under Oregon election law. The law that required disclosure was repealed in 2001 as possibly being unconstitutional. |
| Pennsylvania | If authorized by the candidate, his authorized political committee or their agents, shall clearly and conspicuously state that the communication has been authorized. |
| Rhode Island |
We are not going to try to explain this one, we'll just let you decide. RI Code § 17-23-2 Signature of posters, fliers, and circulars. No person shall intentionally write, print, post, or distribute, or cause to be written, printed, posted, or distributed, a circular, flier, or poster designed or tending to injure or defeat any candidate for nomination or election to any public office, by criticizing the candidate's personal character or political action, or designed or tending to aid, injure, or defeat any question submitted to the voters, unless there appears upon the circular, flier, or poster in a conspicuous place the name of the author and either the names of the chairperson and secretary, or of two (2) officers, of the political or other organization issuing the poster, flier, or circular, or of some voter who is responsible for it, with the voter's name and residence, and the street and numbers, if any. |
| South Carolina | No disclosure required on signs or other promotional items. |
| South Dakota | Any printed material or communication made, purchased, paid for, or authorized by a candidate, political committee, or political party which expressly advocates for or against a candidate, public office holder, ballot question, or political party shall prominently display or clearly speak the statement: "Paid for by (Name of candidate, political committee, or political party)." This section does not apply to buttons, balloons, pins, pens, matchbooks, clothing, or similar small items upon which the inclusion of the statement would be impracticable. A violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor. |
| Tennessee | Tennessee Code § 2-19-120 States that basically anything that advocates for the election or defeat of a candidate or solicits a contribution shall have the paid for by disclaimer on it. This would include something as small as a business card. There are exceptions to the rule in subsection (3). It states that bumper stickers, pins, buttons, pens, novelties and similar small items which a disclaimer cannot conveniently be printed on are exempt from the requirement. |
| Texas | (a) A person may not knowingly cause to be published, distributed, or broadcast political advertising containing express advocacy that does not indicate in the advertising: (1) that it is political advertising and (2) the full name of: (A) the person who paid for the political advertising (B) the political committee authorizing the political advertising or (C) the candidate or specific-purpose committee supporting the candidate, if the political advertising is authorized by the candidate. |
| Utah | If paid for and authorized by a candidate or the candidate's campaign committee, shall clearly state that the advertisement has been paid for by the candidate or the campaign committee. |
| Vermont | All political advertisements shall contain the name and address of the person who paid for the advertisement. The advertisement shall clearly designate the name of the candidate, party or political committee by or on whose behalf the same is published or broadcast. In the case of printed or written matter, the name and address shall be printed or written large enough to be clearly legible, except that this shall not apply to buttons or any written or printed matter attached to or displayed on any motor vehicle. |
| Virginia | "Paid for by __________" name of candidate, candidate campaign committee, political party committee, political action committee, individual, or other sponsor required on all campaign materials. |
| Washington | Wow, Washington has a whole department dedicated to this one topic - and they've really thought things through. Signs 8' X 4' are exempt from their "Sponsor ID" law. Additionally, they've created a list of things that are also exempts (we don't have room for all of the items) which include the following: campaign buttons, bumper stickers, lapel stickers 2.75" X 1" or smaller, swizzle sticks, ash trays, coasters, cigarette lighters, bingo chips, (where do these people hang out?) earrings, pinwheels, water towers, staple removers, knives ("How 'bout a nice set of Smith for Senate steak knives ma'am", Frisbees, shoe horns, skywriting (can you imagine having to put a paid for on skywriting?) matchbooks, combs...and the list goes on. |
| West Virginia | “ Paid for by _____________” The Candidates committee is normally entered in the space. From the WV SOC Eleciton Office: "We tell people from pencils to paper clips, if it is paid for by a candidate, it must have a disclosure on it." I'm not sure how one would print a paid for on a paperclip - so, I guess those are out. |
| Wisconsin | Requires a disclaimer on all communications – "Paid for by committee, name of treasurer or other authorized agent." There is a special provision that excludes pins, buttons, pens, balloons, nail files and similar small items on which the information required cannot be conveniently printed (11.30(2)(fm) Wis. Stats). The ‘ other small items’ has not been defined by statute or rule and items other than specifically listed would need to be reviewed on a case by case basis. |
| Wyoming | No disclosure required on signs or other promotional items. |
