Southfield, MI Sign Regulations: Political Signs (2026)

Southfield's sign chapter defines a political sign at Sec. 8.33(26) as any sign relating to the election of a person to public office or to a matter to be voted on at an election called by a public body. Section 8.44 lists political signs among the signs allowed in every zoning district without a permit, but with their own conditions: they cannot exceed thirty-two square feet, and they cannot be placed in any public right-of-way. Political signs are not bound by the size and number restrictions that apply to other permitted signs in a given zoning district, unless the political message is incorporated into a wall sign, ground support sign or garden ground sign, in which case the underlying sign's district rules still apply.

Timing is fixed by ordinance rather than left to the campaign: a political sign cannot go up more than sixty days before the election it relates to, and must come down within thirty days after the election is complete. Southfield accounts for back-to-back election cycles: when a primary and a general election are separated by no more than ninety days, a successful candidate's signs are allowed to remain in place through that gap, but they still must be removed thirty days after the general election concludes.