Queen Anne's County, MD Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Section 18:1-81A(2)(l) lists political signs among the signs allowed without the regular sign permit that Part 7 of Chapter 18:1 otherwise demands, but it attaches its own conditions. The paragraph covers signs advertising political parties or candidates for election. Each sign is capped at 32 square feet in area and cannot be erected more than 70 days prior to the election to which it pertains.

Removal deadlines depend on the election. Unsuccessful candidates in a primary election must remove their political signs within 30 days after the primary election. All political signs, whoever erected them, must be removed within 30 days after a general election.

The permit step is easy to miss. Although political signs sit on the no-permit list, paragraph [5] requires the erector of a political sign, or an authorized agent of the political party or candidate, to obtain a temporary sign permit from the Zoning Office.

Other rules in the same section apply to a yard or roadside sign. A sign cannot obstruct a clear view of traffic along any street right-of-way, entrance, or exit (§ 18:1-81A(5)), and except for signs of a duly constituted governing body, a sign cannot project or be located within road right-of-way lines (§ 18:1-81A(6)). Under § 18:1-79, a freestanding sign's area is the entire surface on which copy could be placed, and two faces back-to-back no more than two feet apart count as a single face. The sign article states in § 18:1-78B that its regulations are applied to all advertising displays regardless of the content of the sign message.

These rules govern unincorporated Queen Anne's County, including Kent Island. Centreville, Queenstown, Church Hill, Sudlersville, Barclay, Templeville and the county's part of Millington are incorporated towns that apply their own codes.