Sign of the times: new election rules in place this year

By Lethbridge Herald on September 10, 2025.

Nathan Reiter
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With the 2025 Lethbridge municipal election just over a month away, residents will start noticing more signs as candidates look to advertise their campaign.

The 2025 election comes with new rules for where candidates are allowed to display their campaign signs. Candidates are permitted to display signs on provincial right of ways (ROWs) including Highway 3, Highway 3 and 43 Street South between Highway 3 and 4. Signs on provincial ROWs can be a maximum of 1.5 square metres in size. 

In previous elections, candidates were able to display signs on municipal ROWs, but that has been changed this time around. Deputy City Clerk David Sarsfield says feedback is gathered after every municipal, provincial and federal election and the decision was made to keep the signs to just private property.

“The reason for that is we have found that generally they were a distraction in terms of the feedback from the public,” says Sarsfield. “Second, it resulted in someone spending full time removing the signs which were illegal. Candidates would then collect their signs and then put them back in exactly the same spot. Instead we said we’ll restrict it to just those within private property, provided they have permissions from the landowners. The reason why that’s desirable is because there are no restrictions on the size of the sign on private property. Candidates could put up the signs right away as early as Jan. 2 this year. It just provides a cleaner environment and yet still allows the candidates to advertise their candidacy.”

Other prohibited locations for campaign signs include interchange ramps, within a playground, school or construction zone, within a park or adjacent to a polling station on a day where voting takes place. A full list of campaign sign guidelines can be found on the city website. 

Sarsfield says there have been some violations reported with election signs already, but all have been dealt with in a timely manner.

“We’ve reinforced what the sign rules are, pointed out specific areas where people are placing signs which aren’t allowed, and asked them to remove it. People have been compliant with what we’ve asked. If someone notices a sign in the spot which they don’t believe should be, feel free to contact us and we’ll check it out and if necessary, remove it.“

The election period runs from Oct. 8-20.  All municipal candidate signs must be removed within three days following the election.