Hercules, CA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

600(3) confines temporary noncommercial signage, the category covering political and campaign signs, to prescribed public locations that the City Council identifies and adopts through legislation; a resident or campaign cannot post one wherever they like on City property or the public right-of-way. 100's message policies instead. Subsection (4) commits the City to message neutrality, applying the sign code content-neutrally to noncommercial speech and never favoring commercial speech over noncommercial speech. Subsection (5) then creates a continuing message-substitution right: with the property owner's consent, a noncommercial message of any category, including a political one, can be substituted in whole or in part for any allowed commercial or other noncommercial message, as long as the underlying sign structure or mounting device is already legal, and the substitution can be made repeatedly without additional approval or permitting.

That right does not let anyone increase the total sign area on a site, swap in an off-site commercial message, escape the requirement that the physical structure be properly permitted, or change the sign's physical display method, such as adding digital or neon components, without a permit.