LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A Las Vegas mom and aspiring law school student says she was ordered to take down signs supporting Kamala Harris and Senator Jacky Rosen from her apartment window. Wednesday, FOX5 went to the complex in question in the Spring Valley area.
“I actually chose these signs instead of the yard signs because I thought oh, they might complain about that,” explained Whitney Shepard. Shepard never could have imagined the pushback she’s getting for the two standard size campaign signs in her front windows. So far, she has received two letters from management and another from an attorney demanding they come down.
“They told me if I didn’t have it down by the weekend, they would give me a $30 fine,” Shepard revealed.
“Please remove sign from window” is handwritten on one note next to the highlighted window covering section of her lease.
“I do know that the terminology in my lease doesn’t say anything about signs… I put it up because it is something that is important to me and I felt like being told to take it down is silencing me,” Shepard contended.
The aspiring law school student now studying for her LSAT fired back a letter citing the law, refusing to be intimidated. Shepard wants to be an example for her 9-year-old daughter Winter, just like Kamala Harris. The mother-daughter duo attended her rally at the Thomas and Mack at UNLV last weekend.
“Her being able to look back…seeing somebody that looks like her, it just means a lot,” Shepard shared.
What are the rules for displaying political signs at apartments, condos, or even in HOA run communities?
“We as Nevadans need to understand that we have a First Amendment right, and within our own home those rights are the strongest,” argued Jacob Smith, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
Smith says not only are political signs protected by the First Amendment, but they are also enshrined in Nevada state law.
“A lot of people are intimidated by the fines or just pay the fines when they are bullied by these HOA organizations…limiting political speech is a huge, huge concern,” Smith asserted. The ACLU tells FOX5 there are some rules that can be enforced, such as the number of signs and their size.
Shepard revealed to FOX5, during the back-and-forth with her apartment management she’s been notified her rent would be going up at the end of her lease in the fall. In order to not identify where Shepard lives, FOX5 is not naming the complex.
FOX5 did reach out to the apartment complex Wednesday afternoon but so far have not heard back.
The ACLU of Nevada shared these NRS sections pertaining to campaign signs:
NRS 116.325 Right of units’ owners to exhibit political signs in certain areas; conditions and limitations on exercise of right.
1. The executive board shall not and the governing documents must not prohibit a unit’s owner or an occupant of a unit from exhibiting one or more political signs within such physical portion of the common-interest community as that owner or occupant has a right to occupy and use exclusively, subject to the following conditions:
(a) All political signs exhibited must not be larger than 24 inches by 36 inches.
(b) If the unit is occupied by a tenant, the unit’s owner may not exhibit any political sign unless the tenant consents, in writing, to the exhibition of the political sign.
(c) All political signs exhibited are subject to any applicable provisions of law governing the posting of political signs.
(d) A unit’s owner or an occupant of a unit may exhibit as many political signs as desired, but may not exhibit more than one political sign for each candidate, political party or ballot question.
2. The provisions of this section establish the minimum rights of a unit’s owner or an occupant of a unit to exhibit political signs. The provisions of this section do not preempt any provisions of the governing documents that provide greater rights and do not require the governing documents or the executive board to impose any restrictions on the exhibition of political signs other than those established by other provisions of law.
3. As used in this section, “political sign” means a sign that expresses support for or opposition to a candidate, political party, or ballot question in any federal, state or local election or any election of an association.
NRS 116B.715 Right of units’ owners to exhibit political signs in certain areas; conditions and limitations on exercise of right.
1. The executive board shall not and the governing documents must not prohibit a unit’s owner or an occupant of a unit from exhibiting a political sign within such physical portion of the condominium hotel as that owner or occupant has a right to occupy and use exclusively if the political sign is not larger than 24 inches by 36 inches.
2. The provisions of this section establish the minimum rights of a unit’s owner or an occupant of a unit to exhibit a political sign. The provisions of this section do not preempt any provisions of the governing documents that provide greater rights and do not require the governing documents or the executive board to impose any restrictions on the exhibition of political signs other than those established by other provisions of law.
3. As used in this section, “political sign” means a sign that expresses support for or opposition to a candidate, political party or ballot question.
(Added to NRS by 2007, 2248)
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