LEWISTON – There’s a reason why a sea of roadside signs can soon be expected to appear like dandelions in June.

Unlike other municipalities, Lewiston and Auburn have city ordinances that say political signs cannot be put up until the election is near: 32 days before the election in Lewiston, 30 days in Auburn.

That was Friday for Lewiston, and will be Sunday for Auburn.

Some Lewiston residents were surprised, and annoyed, to discover they could not put their signs up earlier.

A few weeks ago, Rita and Lionel Lavoie of Lewiston, who favor the casino referendum, put out signs they got from the pro-casino “Think About It” office on Lisbon Street.

The signs weren’t out long. A few days later, the Lavoies discovered the signs had been plucked from their yard and were resting at their door, along with a blue note from the city informing them that political signs couldn’t be displayed until Oct. 3 this year.

“I don’t see the reason for it,” Rita Lavoie said. “We’d like to have our thinking known.” Their pile of signs went in the garage until Friday; that morning, they began putting them up again.

The same thing happened to Lionel “Nel” Potvin, 71, who either replanted or distributed more than 50 pro-casino signs Friday morning. Potvin, who’s “100 percent for a casino – I wish it were coming to Lewiston,” said he put his signs out last month only to be asked to take them down.

“I was a Lewiston city councilor for 10 years, and I never heard of that,” he said. Potvin marched to City Hall and asked to see the ordinance. “It’s true,” he said afterward.

Like Potvin, Rita Lavoie, 71, believes a casino would generate jobs, give money to schools and lower property taxes. She and her husband, who are retired but work part-time at Wal-Mart, used to go dancing and attend hockey games. Now they enjoy gambling, she said, adding they’ll be heading to Connecticut soon. “We meet other people there and have a good time. We always go to win, but I bring (only) so much money and that’s all I spend,” she said. “I’m in control.”

Erin Lehane of the pro-casino Think About It campaign said Lewiston is among the “hottest” areas in terms of people supporting the casino. So far, 300 signs have been passed out in Lewiston and another 400 signs have been requested.

Dennis Bailey of CasinosNO! said his campaign has more than 4,000 signs distributed statewide. He’s not sure how many are in Lewiston-Auburn. His campaign has someone at Bates College distributing anti-casino signs, Bailey said.

Unaware of Lewiston’s ordinance, when the pro-casino campaign got its signs last month, they started handing them out. In most municipalities, signs can go up on personal property whenever the owners want, and on public property six weeks before an election, Lehane said.

A constitutional question

After finding out that the city was removing signs, “We had to call people up and ask them to take their signs down,” Lehane said, adding that it was an unusual thing for a campaign to do. “Since then, we get calls all the time from people saying, ‘Can I put them out yet?’ It’s like a countdown to Christmas.”

Lewiston City Planner David Hediger said the political sign controversy is an issue that surfaces most elections. “Same problem, different year,” he said.

Auburn’s ordinance is designed to protect people “from having to look at, say, my 20 signs on my lawn all year long,” said Auburn City Clerk Mary Lou Magno.

Retired Bates College political science Professor Douglas Hodgkin said if someone were to challenge the sign ordinances in court, the ordinances might not hold up in light of the constitutional right to free speech. Not wanting to see clutter seems an insufficient reason to limit free speech, Hodgkin said. But he acknowledged that challenging the laws would take time and money.

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