Indiana HOA Political Signs

Section 1: Overview — How political signs are regulated in Indiana HOAs

Start with the rule that governs. Indiana law bars a homeowners association from prohibiting political signs on a member's property during a defined election-season window, and it overrides any covenant that says otherwise — though it still lets an association set reasonable rules on a sign's size, number, and location.¹ That protection lives in Indiana Code Section 32-21-13, tucked inside Title 32 (Property), Article 21 (Conveyance Procedures for Real Property), Chapter 13. It does not sit in the Indiana Homeowners Association Act (Ind. Code Section 32-25.5) or the Indiana Condominium Act (Ind. Code Section 32-25).² The protected window opens 30 days before an election and closes 5 days after the election the sign concerns, and the statute's size and number limits set floors on what an association must allow, not caps on what an owner may post.^3,4 Keep one distinction front of mind: this protection is statutory, not constitutional. An Indiana HOA is a private entity that owners create by contract, so the First Amendment, which restrains government, does not touch it.¹ That design puts Indiana among owner-protective states such as Arizona, Colorado, California, and Illinois, and apart from states where recorded covenants control sign display with no statutory override.¹ The sections that follow take the statute apart, explain why the source of the protection matters, show how it meets a covenant, turn the rules into day-to-day guidance, and place Indiana against comparable states.

Section 2: The legal framework for political signs

2A. The statute that protects political signs

The controlling authority is Indiana Code Section 32-21-13, titled "Display of Political Signs on Property Subject to Restrictive Covenants or Homeowners Association Rules." The General Assembly added Sections 1 through 6 through P.L.5-2010, and added Section 7 later through P.L.73-2014, then amended it through P.L.174-2015.⁵ The chapter stands on its own within the conveyance-procedures article at Title 32, Article 21, Chapter 13, separate from the Homeowners Association Act at Ind. Code Section 32-25.5 and the Condominium Act at Ind. Code Section 32-25.² Because the chapter reaches property subject to restrictive covenants or homeowners association rules, it governs both recorded covenants and board-adopted rules within its terms.⁶

Section 32-21-13-4 carries the core prohibition. Except as Section 5 provides, a homeowners association "may not adopt or enforce a rule that prohibits a member of the homeowners association from displaying a sign on the member's property during the period: (1) beginning thirty (30) days before; and (2) ending five (5) days after; the date of the election to which the sign relates."³ Section 32-21-13-2 defines "rules" to mean a restrictive covenant or a homeowners association rule, so the prohibition reaches recorded covenants as well as ordinary board rules — and it overrides a conflicting covenant during the protected window.⁶

Section 32-21-13-3 narrows the covered "sign" to one that advocates the election or defeat of a candidate for nomination or election to public office, supports or opposes a political party or its candidates, or approves or disapproves a public question.⁷ Section 32-21-13-1 imports the election-law definitions in Ind. Code Section 3-5-2.⁸

Section 32-21-13-5 spells out the permitted rules and frames each as a floor. An association may restrict a sign's size only if the rule permits a sign "at least as large as signs commonly displayed during election campaigns"; it may restrict the number of signs only if the rule permits "a reasonable number of signs"; and it may restrict locations but "may not prohibit the display of a sign: (A) in a window on the homeowner's property; or (B) on the ground that is part of the homeowner's property."⁴ Section 32-21-13-6 lets an association remove a sign that violates the rules the chapter permits.⁹ Section 32-21-13-7 goes further and bars an association from adopting or enforcing a rule or covenant that prohibits — or effectively prohibits — a candidate, an officeholder, a spouse of either, or a candidate's volunteer worker from entering homeowners association property to conduct political activity; that section does not apply where gates or other means control outside access and the community privately owns and maintains the common areas, including roads and sidewalks.¹⁰ Outside the protected window, the declaration and rules govern sign display. Separate law governs flag display, and the Flag Display page covers it.

2B. The First Amendment and the source of the protection

The First Amendment restrains government, not private conduct. A homeowners association is a private entity that owners create by contract through recorded covenants, so its sign rules are not state action and draw no First Amendment scrutiny.¹ The protection Indiana owners enjoy is a statutory grant under Ind. Code Section 32-21-13, not a constitutional right.¹ That distinction carries a practical edge: an owner's protection is exactly what the statute confers — no more, no less — measured by the 30-before/5-after window and the size, number, and location floors, not by free-speech doctrine.

A common misconception dresses up an HOA sign dispute as a First Amendment case. It is not. Indiana also skips the Illinois mechanism, which expressly limits a condominium board's rulemaking power so that "no rule or regulation may impair any rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States or Section 4 of Article I of the Illinois Constitution."¹¹ Indiana's protection stands on its own as a freestanding statute with fixed terms; it does not fold constitutional standards into association rulemaking.

Government sign regulation is a different subject entirely. Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) and City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising (2022) concern municipal sign codes and the limits the First Amendment places on local governments. They do not constrain a private homeowners association, and they supply no authority for or against an HOA sign rule. The Indiana Constitution's free-speech clause (Article I, Section 9) is likewise not the operative source; it constrains state action, and it is the statute — not the state constitution — that compels an Indiana HOA to permit political signs during the window.

2C. How the statute interacts with covenants, and its limits

Within its terms, Ind. Code Section 32-21-13 overrides a conflicting covenant or rule. A recorded covenant that bans signs, or that permits only "for sale" and contractor signs, cannot be enforced against a covered political sign during the protected window, because Section 32-21-13-2 sweeps restrictive covenants into the definition of "rules" the association may not use to prohibit display.^3,6 This is order of precedence at work: the statute displaces the covenant for the covered sign during the covered period.

The statute does not strip associations of all authority. It preserves size, number, and location rules that stay within the Section 32-21-13-5 floors, and it preserves removal of a sign that violates those permitted rules under Section 32-21-13-6.^4,9 What the statute does not protect is display outside the 30-before/5-after window, where the declaration and rules govern; signs that exceed a valid size or number rule consistent with the floors; and locations beyond the window and ground placement the statute expressly guarantees.

Two cautions shape enforcement. First, an association or its agent that removes a sign without authority can invite a criminal conversion claim under Ind. Code Section 35-43-4-3 — a point Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita's October 4, 2024 guidance flags with the warning that "removing signs without the authority to do so may be criminal conversion under Ind. Code § 35-43-4-3," citing Buzzell v. State, 636 N.E.2d 158 (1994).¹² Second, selective or content-based enforcement — pulling one candidate's signs but not another's — invites a challenge. The operational takeaway is plain: an association may regulate, but only within the floors, and only through neutral rules it applies evenly and adopts before a dispute arises.

Section 3: Operational rules for Indiana associations

A. What an association may not do

An association may not adopt or enforce any rule or covenant that prohibits a member from displaying a covered political sign on the member's property during the window from 30 days before to 5 days after the related election (Ind. Code Section 32-21-13-4).³ It may not set a size rule below the floor, impose a number rule of zero, or adopt a location rule that bars display in a window or on the ground of the owner's property (Ind. Code Section 32-21-13-5).⁴ And it may not prohibit a candidate, officeholder, their spouse, or a candidate's volunteer worker from entering HOA property to conduct political activity, unless the community qualifies for the gated-community exception (Ind. Code Section 32-21-13-7).¹⁰

B. What an association may regulate

An association may restrict a sign's size so long as it permits a sign at least as large as signs commonly displayed during election campaigns, may restrict the number of signs so long as it permits a reasonable number, and may restrict locations so long as it does not bar window or ground display on the owner's property (Ind. Code Section 32-21-13-5).⁴ Outside the protected window, ordinary covenant restrictions on signs apply with full force.

C. Enforcement and fining constraints

An association may remove a sign that violates the rules the chapter permits (Ind. Code Section 32-21-13-6), but removal without authority can amount to criminal conversion under Ind. Code Section 35-43-4-3.¹² On fines generally, the Indiana Homeowners Association Act (Ind. Code Section 32-25.5) requires written notice and an opportunity to be heard before a fine, while it leaves fine amounts, timelines, and detailed procedure to the governing documents.¹³ Content-based or selective enforcement of sign rules invites a challenge and undercuts the neutrality the statute assumes.

D. Rule adoption and disclosure

Sign rules must conform to Ind. Code Section 32-21-13 and clear valid adoption under the association's governing documents. A rule that prohibits protected display during the window, or that falls below a size or number floor, is unenforceable to that extent no matter how the association adopted it (Ind. Code Section 32-21-13-4 and Section 32-21-13-5).^3,4

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No bill enacted in the past 24 months amended Ind. Code Section 32-21-13 or otherwise changed Indiana's political-sign rules for homeowners associations. For context, the General Assembly added the chapter through P.L.5-2010, added the political-activity section (Section 32-21-13-7) through P.L.73-2014, and amended it through P.L.174-2015.⁵ Recent HOA legislation, including House Bill 1152 in the 2026 session, took up other subjects — budgets, amateur-radio antennas, and home-based child care under Ind. Code Section 32-25.5 — and left the political-sign chapter untouched.¹⁴

B. Recent rulings

No published decision of the Indiana Court of Appeals or the Indiana Supreme Court in the past 36 months interprets Ind. Code Section 32-21-13 or turns on enforcement of an HOA political-sign rule. Trial-level disputes move through the Indiana Circuit and Superior Courts, appeals go to the Indiana Court of Appeals, and discretionary review rests with the Indiana Supreme Court. Recent appellate HOA decisions have turned on assessments and covenant interpretation rather than political signs, so no on-point sign precedent exists to report.¹⁵

C. Active legislative debates

No active proposal would change Indiana's political-sign rules. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita issued election-season guidance to homeowners associations and management companies dated October 4, 2024, stating that "the State of Indiana has placed strong limits on an HOA's ability to restrict political signs and activities in their neighborhood during the thirty (30) days leading up to an election," and summarizing the limits Ind. Code Section 32-21-13 places on sign and political-activity enforcement.¹²

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Indiana belongs to the group of protective-statute states that override conflicting covenants by statute, alongside Arizona (A.R.S. Sections 33-1808 and 33-1261), Colorado (C.R.S. Section 38-33.3-106.5), California (Civil Code Section 4710), and Illinois (765 ILCS 605/18.4).¹⁶ Indiana builds a bespoke chapter around an election-season window (30 days before to 5 days after) plus size, number, and location floors, rather than the longer windows and square-foot caps some peers use. Arizona, for example, protects signs from 71 days before a primary through 15 days after a general election and, absent a local ordinance, caps aggregate sign dimensions at nine square feet, while California's Civil Code Section 4710(c) lets an association prohibit noncommercial signs and posters larger than nine square feet and flags or banners larger than 15 square feet.¹⁷ One feature sets Indiana apart: its size and number limits are minimum allowances the association must permit, and the statute separately protects in-person political activity on HOA property, subject to the gated-community exception.^4,10 For a multi-state operator, the practical implication is direct: because Ind. Code Section 32-21-13 overrides conflicting covenants during the window, a covenant sign ban that holds up in a covenant-primary state simply cannot be enforced in Indiana during that period.^3,6

HOA Weekly's Indiana Political Signs coverage updates quarterly as the Indiana General Assembly and the Indiana courts act. Federal frameworks — the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD — apply to Indiana associations regardless of the state framework, while the federal First Amendment supplies no basis to challenge a private HOA's sign rules.

Footnotes

1. Ind. Code § 32-21-13, Display of Political Signs on Property Subject to Restrictive Covenants or Homeowners Association Rules (Indiana General Assembly) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
2. Ind. Code tit. 32, art. 21, ch. 13 (chapter location within Conveyance Procedures for Real Property) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩ ↩
3. Ind. Code § 32-21-13-4 (core prohibition; 30-before/5-after window) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
4. Ind. Code § 32-21-13-5 (permissible rules; size, number, and location floors) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
5. Ind. Code § 32-21-13 (added by P.L.5-2010; § 32-21-13-7 added by P.L.73-2014, amended by P.L.174-2015) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩ ↩
6. Ind. Code § 32-21-13-2 (definition of "rules") (Indiana General Assembly) ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
7. Ind. Code § 32-21-13-3 (definition of "sign") (Indiana General Assembly) ↩
8. Ind. Code § 32-21-13-1 (election-law definitions in IC 3-5-2 apply) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩
9. Ind. Code § 32-21-13-6 (removal of violating sign) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩ ↩
10. Ind. Code § 32-21-13-7 (political activity; gated-community exception) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩ ↩ ↩
11. 765 ILCS 605/18.4(h) (rulemaking may not impair First Amendment or Illinois Constitution rights) (Illinois General Assembly) ↩
12. Office of the Indiana Attorney General, Todd Rokita, To the Homeowners Associations and Management Companies in Indiana (Oct. 4, 2024) (criminal-conversion caution under Ind. Code § 35-43-4-3; Buzzell v. State, 636 N.E.2d 158 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994)) ↩ ↩ ↩
13. Ind. Code § 32-25.5 (Homeowners Associations Act) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩
14. Engrossed House Bill 1152, 2026 Reg. Sess. (Ind. 2026) (amends IC 32-21 and IC 32-25.5; does not amend IC 32-21-13) (Indiana General Assembly) ↩
15. Indiana Courts, Appellate Opinions (no published Court of Appeals or Supreme Court decision on IC 32-21-13 in the review period) ↩
16. A.R.S. § 33-1808 (Arizona State Legislature); C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5 (Colorado General Assembly); Cal. Civ. Code § 4710 (California Legislative Information); 765 ILCS 605/18.4 (Illinois General Assembly) ↩
17. A.R.S. § 33-1808 (Arizona: 71 days before a primary to 15 days after a general election; nine-square-foot aggregate cap absent a local ordinance); Cal. Civ. Code § 4710(c) (nine/15-square-foot size limits) (California Legislative Information) ↩