Osceola Republicans slam change in sign policy with early voting already underway

Osceola County has ordered candidates to take down political signs planted outside early voting precincts.

Supervisor of Elections Mary Jane Arrington said she had nothing to do with that order, but local Republicans say nobody had trouble until anti-Arrington signs started popping up by the road.

The Republican Party of Osceola County plans to hold a press conference at its Kissimmee headquarters slamming the decision as election interference. The party said it received a notification on Friday, days after early voting had already started, that signs located outside polling locations — even ones planted beyond the 150-foot zone where campaigning is restricted by law — would be removed and destroyed.

“This desperate attempt by the Democrat-run Osceola County government to silence our political speech at the last-minute amounts to nothing more than ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” reads a statement from Osceola Republican Chair Mark Cross.

Arrington, a Democrat, said she was negatively impacted by the decision as well. She faces a challenge by Republican Jim Trautz this year. She had signs for her own re-election campaign at nine early voting locations that she had to take down.

“The Supervisor of Elections Office has no authority or jurisdiction on anything,” she said. “I got the same email from the county as everyone.”

For the record, she said campaigns and volunteers on a regular basis have tried to post signs within 150 feet of voting locations, but her Office’s policy is to take them up from the ground and lay them down flat so campaigns can then post them in legal locations.

Republicans in Osceola County say the rule change only occurred after signs went up with anti-Arrington messaging.

Notably, the signs didn’t target a specific candidate. In addition to Arrington’s re-election campaign for Supervisor, her son, Osceola County Commissioner Brandon Arrington, is running for re-election against Republican FiorD’Aliza Friads and Libertarian Eric Montgomery, and her daughter-in-law, Rep. Kristen Arrington, is running for Senate against Republican Jose Martinez.

“I did not complain about any campaign signs,” Kristen Arrington said. “There were some other signs with similar messages for the primary election.”

She said the change in county policy with signs hasn’t affected her own campaign. “You’ve probably heard the saying — signs don’t vote!” the Senate candidate said.

Cross said the county must “STOP interfering with the First Amendment rights of candidates and political parties by banning political signs outside the No-Solicitation Zone at polling locations in Osceola County!”