Jackson, TN Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Jackson Municipal Code § 11-705, printed in Title 11, Chapter 7 (Handbills, Political Signs, Etc.), specifically governs political material displayed on telephone poles, light poles and street light standards within the City of Jackson, Tennessee. Outside the thirty (30) days immediately before an election, no political poster, sign or related material may be posted on those structures at all. During that thirty-day window, a person, firm, organization or corporation must first apply to the city recorder and obtain a permit, which the city recorder must issue in every case once the applicant posts a cash bond of one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00).

The bond is conditioned on removing every political poster, sign and related material from the poles and standards within forty-eight (48) hours after the election and hauling the debris to the city dump. If that condition is met, the city recorder refunds the bond; if not, the City of Jackson keeps it to pay for removal and disposal. This poles-and-standards permit sits alongside, but is legally separate from, the city's comprehensive sign control regulations in Title 14, Chapter 4, and from the general handbill-posting permit and hundred-dollar bond required under the neighboring § 11-702 for other printed advertisements.

Because § 11-705 does not carry its own penalty clause, a violation is punished under the municipal code's general penalty provision, § 3-102, which authorizes the city court judge to levy a civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars ($500.00) plus costs.