the ugly side of democracy: campaign signs

Factual Questions
1

The presence of fading campaign signs has never improved the public’s opinion of a politician. Yet, it seems like they all just let them hang around until they rot off the telephone poles. (Needless to say, there is a certain gravitational pull emanating from “The BBQ Pit”[TM] on this biennial eyesore…) but I have a few calm-headed Q’s about 'em:

  1. What do most political candidates do, if anything, to remove them after the election? Party-activist Dopers, were you asked/ordered/paid/neglected on this issue?

  2. Laws and, apparently, degree of enforcement vary tremendously on this problem. Do any Dopers have direct knowledge about what sort of statutes/law enforcement policies best eliminate the clutter?

  3. I bet if local/state govt.s offered bounties at $??/sign to citizens at large, most signs would disappear overnight. But that could be a problem if people were tempted to pinch them prematurely. Perhaps municipal workers are the answer, then, with those OT costs to be paid for from the candidates’ own warchests or those of their political parties. But would that be workable and constitutional?

  4. Does a citizen ever have the right to take down these signs on sight before election day? What about a campaign sign posted in a place or manner that would be illegal if it was, say your sign advertising a garage sale? [i.e., nailed to a tree, placed on public land where it might be dangerous to pedestrians or bicyclists, etc.]

Thanks in advance for informative feedback, my fine fellow citizen Dopers… [/oratory]

2

When I lived in Albuquerque NM there was a law that said the signs had to be down in a certain amount of time after the elections. I think the candidates could be fined if they were not cleaned up. I remember big dumpsters being set up around the city for sign disposal.

3

Cary, North Carolina recently passed a law that banned signs on the right-of-ways along roads, i.e. signs are okay on private property, but not public. This cut the number of signs way down.