Franklin County, KY Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Section 155.359, Special Purpose and Election Signs, is where the Fiscal Court regulates campaign signs. Subsection (B) is the core rule. It allows election signs on any occupancy or any premises that may erect permanent signs, for a period not to exceed 60 days prior to any primary or general election. The right follows the property: a lot that cannot lawfully have permanent signs does not gain election-sign rights from this subsection.

The removal deadline is the second half of the rule. Election signs shall be removed within ten days after the election or after the termination of a candidacy, whichever occurs first. A candidate who withdraws or is eliminated in a primary starts the ten-day clock at that point, not at the later general election. Subsection (C) states that no building permit shall be required to be issued for election signs, which separates them from the permanent signs that need a permit from the County Department of Planning, Zoning and Building Code Enforcement under § 155.361(A)(1).

Subsection (A) matters for banners and streamers. Special purpose signs, which § 155.353 defines to include banners, streamers, flags and pennants supplementing permanent signs, are prohibited except as provided in § 155.369, which limits them to no more than ten days at any one time and no more than six times in a calendar year.

Location limits come from other sections. Section 155.356(A) provides that no sign support shall be located within the public right-of-way and no sign shall project over it. Under § 155.356(B), a sign placed on or over public property or right-of-way in violation is forfeited to the public and subject to confiscation, and the county can recover the full cost of removal and disposal from the owner or person placing it. Section 155.355 bars signs that imitate traffic or emergency signs. The rules apply in unincorporated Franklin County, Kentucky; Frankfort has its own code.