Literature, Signs and Ads: The Rules for Every Format

Money becomes paper, plastic, airtime and pixels. That is where most voters meet a campaign, and it is where most of the avoidable mistakes happen: a sign in a ditch the state owns, a mailer with no disclaimer, a text blast to a purchased list of cell numbers. This lesson goes format by format. The craft of making the ads is in the Political and Issue Ad Rules lesson of the ads course. Here the focus is what Idaho and federal law require of the people paying.

The "paid for by" line

Idaho Code 67-6614A applies whenever anyone spends money on communications expressly advocating the election, approval or defeat of a candidate, a measure or a precinct committeeman candidate, through any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, direct mailing or "any other type of general public political advertising." The person responsible must be "clearly indicated" on the communication.

That is the whole statute. It sets no exact words, type size, placement or duration. The Secretary of State's Campaign Finance Disclosure Manual gives the working example, print "Paid for by Candidate X for Senate" on all communications, and says buttons, bumper stickers, pins, pens and similar small items too small for a disclaimer are not covered. Violations carry civil fines of up to $250 for an individual and $2,500 for anyone else under Idaho Code 67-6625, and a knowing and willful violation is a misdemeanor.

Missing disclaimers were one of the most common mistakes the Secretary of State described in May 2024, including on robocalls and texts, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. The office also named using the state seal in political ads. A campaign is not the state. Leave the seal off.

Federal candidates and anyone advertising about them follow 11 CFR 110.11, the FEC's disclaimer rule, which is far more specific. Printed pieces need the disclaimer in a printed box set apart from the rest, with reasonable color contrast, readable type, and 12-point type is enough on anything up to 24 by 36 inches. The disclaimer must say whether a candidate authorized the piece. Outside groups add their street address, phone number or web address. Radio and TV ads authorized by a candidate need the candidate's own spoken approval statement. The same small-item exception applies, plus one for apparel and other formats where a disclaimer would be impracticable. Online ads may use an "adapted disclaimer" with a link to the full one when space is tight.

Format	Idaho state or local race	Federal race
Yard sign, poster, billboard	Paid-for-by line, clearly readable	Boxed disclaimer, contrast rule; 12-point safe up to 24 by 36 inches
Mailer, door hanger, flyer	Paid-for-by line	Boxed disclaimer; need not be on the front if inside the piece
TV ad	Paid-for-by line, plus FCC sponsor ID (4 percent of screen height, 4 seconds, for candidate ads)	All of that plus the candidate's spoken and written approval
Radio ad	Paid-for-by line, plus FCC sponsor announcement	Plus the candidate's spoken approval
Digital ad, text, robocall	Paid-for-by line; robocalls also identify the caller at the start and give a phone number (FCC)	Disclaimer or adapted disclaimer
Button, pen, bumper sticker	Not covered	Exempt

One more Idaho rule: Idaho Code 67-6627 requires any persuasive phone poll about a candidate, live or automated, to give at the end the name and phone number of whoever requested or paid for it. A push poll that pretends to be research still has to name its sponsor.

Yard and road signs

State highways

Idaho Code 40-1910 bars advertising displays within the right-of-way of any highway, and also bars signs that block the view of approaching or merging traffic, hide intersections or mimic traffic signs. The Idaho Transportation Department's sign guidance explains where the right-of-way usually is: if there is a fence along the highway, don't place signs anywhere between the fence and the road; with no fence, treat the power poles as the edge and stay behind them. Fences along the highway and bridges over it are off limits too. ITD crews remove signs that pose a visual obstruction, create a safety hazard or generate complaints when they are working in the area, and they hold signs collected after an election for 10 days so owners can claim them from the nearest ITD district office. ITD's number for questions is (208) 334-8000.

Enforcement is real and sometimes public. In April 2022, an ITD spokeswoman confirmed to the Coeur d'Alene Press that signs for three primary candidates were sitting on ITD land at an Interstate 90 on-ramp, and said signs that threaten safety come down immediately.

Counties, highway districts and cities

Local road agencies and cities set their own rules, and they vary. Ada County Highway District requires temporary signs in its right-of-way to be removed within 48 hours of Election Day under its sign ordinance, and takes signs in prohibited spots to its Garden City headquarters, according to an ACHD notice. In Twin Falls, the county clerk told KMVT in November 2024 that a city ordinance gives people two days after the election to take political signs down; the city's code enforcement office impounds signs left up, and getting one back costs $25. The clerk said no county code or state law sets a removal deadline, and the Secretary of State's office told the station that city ordinances differ and encouraged people to ask their city or county.

Cities cannot regulate signs any way they please. In Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015), the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona town's code that treated signs differently by message, including a special category for political signs, and said towns can still regulate size, materials, lighting and placement in a content-neutral way. Earlier, in City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994), it struck down a ban on almost all residential signs. Many cities now write "temporary sign" rules that apply to every message. Read your city's current code, not last cycle's flyer.

Private property, HOAs, theft

Idaho Code 18-7029 makes it a misdemeanor to put up election signs on public or private property without the owner's or occupant's permission. A utility company that lets one candidate use its property has given the same permission to every other candidate for that office.

Homeowners associations have limits too. Idaho Code 55-3209, passed in 2022, says an HOA may not adopt or enforce covenants that prohibit, or have the effect of prohibiting, political signs, meaning fixed, ground-mounted displays for or against a candidate or ballot measure. An HOA may set reasonable rules on time, size, place, number and manner. It may remove signs from common areas, signs that threaten safety or break a law, and signs with sound or attachments. Otherwise it must give the member three days' written notice naming the rule before removing a sign or fining anyone.

Taking or wrecking someone else's sign is a crime under general law. Idaho Code 18-7001 makes malicious injury to property a misdemeanor, with up to a year in jail, a $1,000 fine or both, and a felony when damage exceeds $1,000, including a series of acts that are part of a common scheme or plan and charged together in one count. Theft under Idaho Code 18-2403 covers taking signs to keep or toss. Report it to the local police or sheriff with photos and the sign's cost. Near a polling place, the 250-foot rule in Idaho Code 18-2318 applies on every in-person voting day; signs on adjacent private property are allowed. Details are in lesson 05.

Door-to-door and literature drops

Knocking on doors to talk politics is about as protected as speech gets. In Watchtower Bible and Tract Society v. Village of Stratton (2002), the Supreme Court struck down an Ohio village ordinance that required a permit before any door-to-door advocacy, holding it violated the First Amendment as applied to religious proselytizing, anonymous political speech and handbills. Towns may still regulate commercial solicitation and solicitation of money more closely, and they may enforce reasonable time limits and trespass rules. A city "solicitor's license" rule written for magazine sellers usually cannot be used to stop a volunteer with campaign flyers. If a city clerk says otherwise, ask for the ordinance in writing.

Two limits apply everywhere in Idaho. First, the same 18-7029 makes it a misdemeanor to leave political literature on property when the owner or occupant has forbidden it with a conspicuous sign, or in writing or by voice. A "No Soliciting" sign is ambiguous. A sign that says "No political literature" is not. Second, federal law: 18 U.S.C. 1725 makes it an offense to knowingly put mailable matter with no postage paid into a mailbox to avoid postage. Mailboxes are for the mail. Use the door, the porch or the person.

Mail

Campaign mail usually goes at commercial USPS Marketing Mail or First-Class prices. The nonprofit price is mostly off limits. Under Domestic Mail Manual 703 section 1.3, only national and state committees of political parties and four congressional campaign committees qualify as political committees, and section 1.4 lists "political organizations" otherwise as ineligible. Even a qualified state party may not mail at the nonprofit price for a candidate who pays any costs, prepares the materials, or appears as the payer on the piece. A 501(c)(3) that lends its nonprofit permit to a campaign has a postage problem on top of a tax problem; see Nonprofits in Politics.

Broadcast, cable and radio

Federal communications law adds a layer that applies to every Idaho race, local ones included, because it binds the station.

• Sponsor identification. Under 47 CFR 73.1212, a station must announce that paid matter is sponsored and by whom, naming the true sponsor and not a front agent the station knows about. For political matter or controversial issues paid for by a group, the station keeps a list of the group's chief officers or board available to the public. TV ads about candidates show the sponsor in letters at least 4 percent of the vertical picture height for at least 4 seconds.
• No censorship. 47 U.S.C. 315(a) says a station that lets a legally qualified candidate use its facilities "shall have no power of censorship" over that material. A station must air a candidate's own ad as delivered. The statute speaks of a candidate's own use, so ads bought by PACs, parties and issue groups fall outside the no-censorship rule, and a station may refuse them or ask for changes.
• Equal opportunities. If one candidate gets to use a station, the station must offer the same terms to that candidate's opponents for the same office. The FCC's political programming page says this applies to federal, state and local candidates. Bona fide newscasts, news interviews, documentaries and on-the-spot news coverage are exempt. The opponent must ask within one week of the first use, under 47 CFR 73.1941.
• Lowest unit charge. In the 45 days before a primary and the 60 days before a general or special election, a station may charge a legally qualified candidate no more than its lowest unit charge for the same class and amount of time, under section 315(b). For May 19, 2026 that window opened April 4; for November 3, it opened September 4. PACs, parties and issue groups pay market rates.
• The political file. Stations post requests to buy time by candidates for any public office, and by advertisers on political matters of national importance, at publicfiles.fcc.gov, "immediately absent unusual circumstances," and keep them two years under 47 CFR 73.1943. A buy about a state ballot measure is not one the rule requires them to post, so a station's file may not show it.

Digital ads, texts and robocalls

Idaho has no digital-specific disclaimer statute. Online ads are "general public political advertising" under 67-6614A, so the paid-for-by line applies. The platforms then add their own rules, and those can be stricter than the law.

Google's political content policy, as of October 2026, requires election ads verification for any ad featuring a federal or state-level candidate or officeholder, a party, or a qualified state ballot measure. Under its state restrictions, Idaho is listed: ads related to ballot measures and candidates for local elections are not allowed. A city council or school levy campaign cannot buy Google or YouTube ads at all. Whether that line also bars qualified statewide ballot measures is unclear, because Google's own US definition of election ads includes them; a statewide measure committee should confirm with Google in writing before counting on Google ads. Google also requires advertisers to check a box in campaign settings and disclose election ads with synthetic or digitally altered content that inauthentically depicts real or realistic-looking people or events.

Meta, in a February 19, 2026 statement, said advertisers running ads about elections, politics or social issues must complete an authorization process and include a "paid for by" disclaimer, that those ads stay in its public Ad Library for seven years, and that it blocks new political ads during the final week before the U.S. election. Ads with at least one impression before that week may keep running. Advertisers must also disclose AI-created or altered photorealistic images, video or realistic audio in those ads in certain cases. Launch your ads early.

Texts and calls fall under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. 227. The FCC's rules for political campaign calls and texts say autodialed or prerecorded political calls and autodialed texts to cell phones are prohibited without the called party's prior express consent. Texts sent manually do not need it. Prerecorded calls to residential landlines are allowed without consent, but no more than three in any 30-day period. Every prerecorded message must state who is calling at the start and give a phone number. People can revoke consent any reasonable way, including replying "stop." In a unanimous declaratory ruling released February 8, 2024, FCC 24-17, the FCC held that AI-generated voices count as "artificial" voices under the TCPA, so a cloned-voice robocall is a prerecorded call with all those consent rules attached.

AI and synthetic media: Idaho's FAIR Elections Act

House Bill 664, signed March 25, 2024 and effective immediately, created Idaho Code 67-6628A, the "Freedom From AI-Rigged (FAIR) Elections Act." It defines synthetic media as audio or video of a person's speech or conduct made with digital technology so that it is realistic but false, would look real to a reasonable person, and leaves a reasonable person with a different understanding of the event than the unaltered recording would.

• A candidate deceptively shown in synthetic media in an electioneering communication may ask a court for an injunction and may sue the information content provider for damages, and the court may award reasonable fees and costs to the prevailing party, whichever side wins. The candidate must prove synthetic media by clear and convincing evidence.
• It is an affirmative defense if the piece says "This (video/audio) has been manipulated." On video, the text must be easily readable and stay up for the whole video. On audio, it must be spoken clearly at the start and the end, and every two minutes or less in anything longer than two minutes.
• Whoever created the content is liable, not the outlet that ran it, unless the outlet strips the disclosure or alters the content. Broadcasters airing material subject to Section 315 are protected.

Read the definition closely. The Act applies to an "electioneering communication," a term this chapter defines with the 30- and 60-day windows and with an exclusion for communications that are expenditures or independent expenditures (Idaho Code 67-6602). It protects candidates, not ballot measures, and it is a civil remedy with no state agency enforcing it. We found no reported Idaho court decision applying it as of October 2026. Put the label on any manipulated audio or video anyway, at any time of year.

Truth in campaign ads

Idaho has no statute that punishes false statements in campaign ads about candidates. A 2025 bill to have the Secretary of State investigate false claims against candidates, House Bill 307, was referred to committee and went no further, per the bill history. The narrow exception is petitions: Idaho Code 34-1815 makes it unlawful to knowingly make false statements about an initiative or referendum petition to get signatures. And the Secretary of State has said his office does not regulate accuracy.

That leaves defamation. Under New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), a public official can win damages for a false statement about official conduct only by proving "actual malice," meaning the speaker knew it was false or acted "with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not." Candidates are public figures. Private people named in ads, a donor or a business owner, get more protection. Keep a source file for every factual claim, and phrase opinion as opinion.

Reporting what you spend

Every one of these costs goes on the reports. Under Idaho Code 67-6607, candidates and committees list each payee of $25 or more with amount, date and purpose, and anything of value other than money is listed both as a contribution and as an expenditure. The Secretary of State's manual gives the printing example directly: when a printer prints campaign literature below its normal price, the discount is an in-kind contribution from the printer, reported along with a matching in-kind expenditure. All in-kind contributions must be itemized regardless of amount, and they count against the giver's contribution limit.

Volunteers are different. The definition of contribution in Idaho Code 67-6602 excludes part-time personal services of volunteers and up to $25 of incidental expenses a volunteer pays personally. A neighbor who spends Saturday placing signs is not a contribution. A neighbor who buys $300 of sign stakes is. Media buyers often pay stations and platforms for you, so your report may show only the buyer; describe the purpose precisely, such as "TV airtime via media buyer." And vendors keep records too: Idaho Code 67-6613 requires newspapers, broadcasters, direct mail companies, printers and ad agencies that take campaign money to keep a current record, available to the public, of what each candidate or committee paid or owes them.

Questions and answers

Common questions from candidates, volunteers, treasurers and the neighbors whose yards the signs go in. Questions about who may pay for what are collected in Who Can Give to Whom: Questions and Answers.

I painted my own sign for a candidate. Does it need a "paid for by" line?

Idaho Code 67-6614A is triggered by spending money on a communication that expressly advocates, and it sets no minimum dollar amount. The only items the Secretary of State's manual treats as too small to need the line are buttons, bumper stickers, pins, pens and the like. A short "Paid for by" with your own name costs nothing and settles the question. If the campaign gave you the sign, its line is already on it.

How long after the election can signs stay up?

No state law or county code sets a statewide removal deadline, the Twin Falls County clerk told KMVT in 2024. Cities and highway districts set their own: Ada County Highway District and the City of Twin Falls both use roughly 48 hours. Signs on state highway right-of-way should never have been there, and ITD holds the ones it collects for 10 days after the election.

My HOA says no political signs, period. Can it do that?

No. Since 2022, Idaho Code 55-3209 bars association rules that prohibit, or effectively prohibit, ground-mounted signs about a candidate or ballot measure. The HOA may still set reasonable limits on time, size, placement, number and manner, and it must give you three days' written notice naming the rule before removing your sign or fining you, unless the sign is in a common area, unsafe or unlawful.

Someone keeps stealing our signs. What do we do?

Report each incident to the police or sheriff with photos, the location and the cost of the signs. Taking signs is theft under Idaho Code 18-2403, and wrecking them is malicious injury to property under 18-7001, which becomes a felony above $1,000 in damage, with a series of acts that are part of a common scheme or plan added together in one count. Replacement signs are a campaign expense and go on your Sunshine report like the first batch.

Can our volunteers leave flyers in mailboxes if nobody is home?

No. 18 U.S.C. 1725 makes it a federal offense to knowingly put mailable matter without postage in a mailbox. Hang the piece on the door or leave it on the porch. Skip any home with a sign forbidding political literature, which Idaho Code 18-7029 makes a misdemeanor to ignore.

Our church has a nonprofit mailing permit. Can a candidate use it?

No. Under Domestic Mail Manual 703, the nonprofit price is closed to candidate and political organization mailings, and only national and state party committees and four congressional campaign committees qualify as political committees. A 501(c)(3) that lends its permit also risks its tax exemption, as Nonprofits in Politics explains.

Can a radio station refuse to sell me time for my county commission race?

Yes, it can decline to sell time to state and local candidates at all. The federal "reasonable access" duty in 47 U.S.C. 312(a)(7) covers only candidates for federal office. But once a station lets one candidate for your office use its airwaves, the equal opportunities rule in 47 U.S.C. 315 requires it to offer you the same terms if you ask within one week.

Can we text voters from a list we bought?

Only if a person sends each message by hand, or if each recipient gave prior express consent. Per the FCC's rules for political calls and texts, autodialed texts and autodialed or prerecorded calls to cell phones need consent. Honor "stop" replies at once, and remember that a text urging a vote still needs a paid-for-by line under Idaho law.

Does Idaho's FAIR Act cover an edited photo?

The Act's definition of synthetic media in Idaho Code 67-6628A covers audio or video recordings, so a still image falls outside it. The platforms are broader: Meta asks advertisers to disclose AI-made or altered photorealistic images in certain cases, and Google's checkbox covers synthetic or digitally altered images. Defamation law also applies to a doctored photo that states a false fact about a real person.

Hard questions

Doesn't a mandatory "paid for by" line kill anonymous speech, the kind the Federalist Papers relied on?

The Supreme Court has protected some anonymous campaign speech. In McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995), it struck down Ohio's ban on unsigned campaign literature as applied to a woman handing out her own leaflets against a school tax levy. In Citizens United (2010), it upheld disclaimers on paid broadcast ads, reasoning that voters benefit from knowing who is speaking. Idaho's 67-6614A applies to anyone who spends money on express advocacy, and we found no Idaho decision on how it applies to a lone person with homemade flyers. For committees and paid advertising, the line is settled law.

Why should a station have to run a candidate's ad it knows is false?

Because Congress chose to keep broadcasters out of judging candidates. Section 315(a) bars censorship of a candidate's own use, and in Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union v. WDAY (1959) the Supreme Court held that a station cannot be held liable for defamation in a candidate broadcast it was forbidden to censor. The alternative is a station manager deciding which candidate's claims are true enough to air, weeks before an election. The person who made the false statement can still be sued. Ads from PACs and issue groups get no such protection, and stations may reject them.

Why do candidates get the lowest unit charge while a citizen group pays full price?

Section 315(b) gives the discount to legally qualified candidates in the 45 days before a primary and 60 before a general, to keep the cost of reaching voters on licensed public airwaves within reach of people running for office. Outside groups can spend without limit, and Congress did not extend the subsidy to them. A group that wants the candidate's rate has one lawful route: become the candidate's own committee.

Aren't sign ordinances a way for whoever runs city hall to keep challengers' signs down?

The Constitution limits that. Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) struck down sign rules that treat signs differently by message, and City of Ladue v. Gilleo (1994) struck down a near-total ban on residential signs. Cities may still regulate size, placement and timing in ways that apply to every message equally. If enforcement falls on one campaign's signs and not another's, photograph both and ask the city for its records; selective enforcement is a story and possibly a constitutional claim.

Why can Google refuse every ad for a school levy? Isn't that censorship?

The First Amendment restrains government, not private companies. Broadcasters carry federal duties because they use licensed public spectrum; online platforms have no equivalent duty to sell political ads. Google's choice to block Idaho local race and measure ads does hit small campaigns hardest, since a city council race cannot easily afford TV. Meta, local newspapers, radio and direct mail remain open, and an ad on any of them follows the same 67-6614A rule.

Won't the FAIR Act be used to sue people over parody and satire?

It covers only realistic audio or video that a reasonable person would take as a real event, appears in an electioneering communication, and depicts a candidate. Obvious parody does not meet that definition. The candidate must prove synthetic media by clear and convincing evidence, and a plain "This video has been manipulated" label is a complete defense. The court may also award fees to a defendant who wins. A creator who labels the piece has little to fear.