Lynn, MA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Section 4:00 of the ordinance regulating signs, adopted in November 2019 for the City of Lynn outside the Central Business District, lists prohibited signs that shall not be permitted, constructed, erected, or maintained. Subsection F names political signs specifically: they are barred in residential areas, meaning lawns, houses, public buildings, trees, or poles. That wording sweeps in the most common placements, private lawns, house facades, and any pole or tree along a residential street, along with public buildings, leaving no residential location where a candidate or ballot-question sign is allowed under this chapter.

The prohibition sits alongside Lynn's other outright sign bans in the same section, including flashing or moving lighting, portable signs, roof signs, and string lights outside the holiday exception, all enforced the same way. The ordinance's Section 6:00 special permit process, which lets the City Council approve additional or larger signs in particular cases, is limited to signs hereinabove permitted and does not reach a category the ordinance flatly prohibits, so political signs in residential areas have no permit path around the ban. Section 7:00's grandfather clause for signs erected before the ordinance likewise offers no help, since political signs are inherently temporary and any predating a given election cycle have already been removed or replaced.