With agreement on signs, candidates say it’s a win for all newcomers

“For me, this case is about democracy,” she said, adding that they were feeling momentum prior to her signs coming down and that momentum has now returned and they’re feeling very good again.

Under the restraining order, which will allow yard signs to stay up through the election as Pawtucket’s prohibition is challenged, the city also can’t impose its size limitations that are more stringent for political signs.

Stewart and Cherie Cruz, a progressive Democrat running for the open House District 58 seat being vacated by Rep. Carlos Tobon, worked with the ACLU of Rhode Island to sue the city over its limits on campaign signs.

“Today democracy wins, the supporters win, Pawtucket wins,” said Cruz in a tweet. “The people win. We won’t stop, can’t stop…This is what democracy looks like.”

Stewart said she was immediately able to put up about 50 signs, an important step for her and other candidates in getting the name recognition they need. She said that’s especially important with early in-person voting starting later this month and the last day to apply for mail-in ballots around the same time.

“The city does not recognize the election is more than just the election day itself, in addition to it just being a blatant violation,” she said.

The ACLU warned Pawtucket about the constitutionality of its sign ordinance in 2018, but it was left in place.

In early July, after Stewart had placed more than 30 candidate yard signs at supporters’ homes, she received a call from City Registrar Ken McGill informing her of the ordinance at issue and advising her that if the signs were not taken down, he would refer the matter to zoning officials “who could issue fines to the individuals who had signs in their yards before the date he identified.” Similarly, after Cruz began distributing her signs to supporters, she too learned about the ordinance second-hand, and then called up city officials who confirmed that anyone erecting her signs more than 30 days before the election could be fined, stated a release.

Stewart said the ordinance leaves open the possibility of selective enforcement, where certain candidates are treated differently than others.

McGill said what almost always happens is that his office gets a complaint, he then contacts the candidate as a courtesy, and the matter then gets sent to zoning. He estimated that they get three or four complaints per week. As for anyone being treated differently from someone else, he said, that just doesn’t happen.

“I’ve been doing this 20 years, we treat everybody the same,” he told The Breeze.

The ACLU lawsuit argues that “residential signs are a form of unique expression entitled to the highest degree of protection” under the First Amendment and a “cheap and convenient form of communication … by which people of modest means may become involved in political campaigns and show their support for a candidate or cause.” The suit notes that as candidates lacking significant name recognition, both Stewart and Cruz “rely heavily on inexpensive campaign lawn signs to …communicate their candidacies to potential voters.”

The lawsuit cites a slew of court decisions dating back decades that have held unconstitutional durational limits on the posting of political signs. It seeks a temporary restraining order for the city’s “’willful’ violation of the candidates’ First Amendment rights,” as well as compensation for damages and attorney fees.

“The fact that such a blatantly unconstitutional ordinance in Pawtucket exists to limit residents’ rights of free speech is very saddening,” said Cruz in a statement. “It ignores a basic right to freely express our political, electoral views and preferences. We cannot on one hand call on all of our citizens to be active participants in our democracy and then on the other create arbitrary timelines for that same participation. It’s hypocritical and wrong.”

ACLU of Rhode Island Executive Director Steven Brown noted that, with the implementation of early voting in Rhode Island, Pawtucket’s 30-day limit on political signs means that they can only be erected 10 days before residents start voting.

Stewart said she would love to know how the ordinance came to be in the first place, as well as for what reason. Signs are important because they tell voters that a race is worth paying attention to and participating in, she said.