Scranton, PA Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Political signs get their own row in City Code § 445-48A's table of signs that do not require a zoning permit, defined there as signs advertising a person or party seeking political office, or a political cause or referendum tied to a scheduled election or upcoming vote by a governmental body. The table caps a lot at five political signs at once, with a maximum face of 20 square feet per side on a residential lot under two acres and up to 40 square feet per side on any other lot.

Timing is built into the same entry: a sign can go up no more than 65 days before the election, vote or referendum it references and must come down within 15 days after that vote concludes. The table also carries two enforcement hooks that matter as much as the numbers: it directs posters to keep a written list of sign locations to aid removal, and it states plainly that a political sign cannot go on private property without the owner's prior consent. If a sign fails any of these limits, whether size, count, timing or consent, § 445-48A says it is no longer treated as an exempt political sign at all; it drops into the off-premises sign category governed by § 445-57, with that section's district restrictions, spacing rules and permit requirements applying instead.