Baltimore County, MD Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Class 14 in the Table of Sign Regulations defines a political campaign sign as a temporary sign displaying information about an electoral issue or a candidate for public office. Wall-mounted, freestanding and banner structures are all allowed, and the permit column reads None, so no sign permit is required. The zone column opens every zone to these signs, with two conditions printed right in the cell: no placement in a right-of-way, and no placement on private property without the express permission of the owner. Section 450.6.A.3 backs up the first condition by barring any sign from county and state right-of-way and from any area owned by a government entity unless the County Code says otherwise. Section 450.7.E.3 confirms that a political campaign sign can go up as an off-premises sign on private property with the property owner's permission, so a yard sign for a candidate who does not live there is fine once the owner agrees.

Size depends on the zone. The maximum area is 50 square feet in OR-1 and the other office, commercial and industrial zones the table lists, and 8 square feet in any other zone, except that 50 square feet is permitted on an unimproved lot. The number of signs per premises is not regulated, and the illumination column reads No, so a campaign sign cannot be lit. Freestanding signs are held to a maximum height of 15 feet in OR-1 and the other listed zones and 8 feet in every other zone.

The code also contains timing rules in § 450.7.F. A sign that must carry a state-law authority line on behalf of a candidate or political issue can go up on private property no earlier than 45 days before a primary election. Unsuccessful primary candidates must remove their signs within seven days after the polls close following the primary, and all other candidates within seven days after the polls close following the general election. The official code prints an Editor's Note that a federal district court declared § 450.7F unconstitutional as a prior restraint on free speech and permanently enjoined the County from enforcing it. The case was Clarence Bell et al v. Baltimore County. The text of F remains in the book, but the 45-day and seven-day clocks are not enforced.