Harrisburg, PA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Harrisburg Codified Ordinances § 7-325.8(A)(9) sets the criteria for political signs in the City of Harrisburg. A political sign is defined by the Code as a sign which promotes a candidate or an initiative related to an upcoming election. It has a maximum sign area of 10 square feet, cannot be placed on any lot earlier than 60 days prior to the election, and has to be removed no later than seven days after the election. The signs are permitted by right within all zoning districts and need no zoning permit, but the section states that no exceptions are permitted to the criteria and that no sign permitted under it shall be internally illuminated.

Placement is the other half of the rule. Political signs shall be installed on private property only with the consent of the property owners, and they cannot be installed on any public right-of-way including sidewalks, medians, and traffic islands. Section 7-325.10(E) repeats the consent requirement for every sign: no sign shall be posted on any property or sign pole or public utility pole unless permission has been received from the owner. Section 7-325.10(F) bars stapling or nailing any sign to a utility pole except by an authorized utility or the City. The temporary banner provision in § 7-325.10(A)(4), which lets permitted banners hang from utility poles and bridges, expressly excludes a political campaign, cause or opinion.

Section 7-325.10(D) names political signs among the few signs that can be erected on a property to which they do not relate, which is why a yard sign for a candidate can stand on a lot whose owner has agreed to host it. Unlike the garage sale entry, the political sign entry prints no per-lot count, only the area cap and the dates.

The same chapter, in § 7-325.7, lists noncommercial signs among the signs exempt from the chapter's regulations. The Code text does not reconcile that exemption with the specific criteria in § 7-325.8, so a question about a particular sign goes to the City's Zoning Officer.