BY STEVE BATES

The Ashburn Farm Association has ordered me to take down the “Harris Walz” sign in my front yard or face unspecified fines. I don’t plan to comply.

Here’s why: One, I have a constitutional right to free speech, one that cannot be nullified completely by homeowner association rules. Two, the association rule limiting such signs to 30 days before Election Day is arbitrary and should no longer apply in the era of early voting. Three, there is no due process for seeking an exception to, or reinterpretation of, the rule. Four, violations of sign rules are abundant in my Northern Virginia neighborhood, and the rules are rarely enforced. And five, it’s just so petty.

Ashburn Farm, Loudoun County, the state, and the nation are approaching a crossroads, a day of judgment. Our country, and perhaps the free world, will shift in one of two dramatically different directions depending on the outcome of this election. This election is so important that everyone’s ideas, everyone’s preferences, everyone’s hopes and dreams, should be welcomed,  not suppressed.

But I live in a community managed by a homeowner association. When I moved here in 2000, “your rights were signed away,” I was told recently by Ron Rector, general manager of the Ashburn Farm Association.

A legal source I trust tells me that the issue is not so clear. The Virginia Supreme Court has not addressed whether association rules about signs may be challenged in state courts under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. There is a long history of local courts in Virginia and other states ruling that certain homeowner association rules are unreasonable and unenforceable.

I understand that the rules were designed to protect home values. But one little sign, which can barely be seen from the sidewalk because of a huge tree? On a sleepy cul-de-sac? In the midst of a critical election? How much damage is that doing to anyone’s property? If anything, it should be viewed as an indication of a vibrant community where people are welcome to express their opinions in a respectful manner.

The 30-day rule makes no sense. What is so magical about that timing, such that a sign is horribly unacceptable 31 days before an election and just dandy 29 days ahead of it? Then there’s the issue of early voting. When our sign went up in early September, in my mind it was within the 30-day window because people are voting now, every weekday, and a few weekend days that the Republican-controlled county Electoral Board grudgingly permits.

I received the letter notifying me of my violation less than 36 hours before I would be subject to fines from the association. When I called the general manager to ask how I could appeal the decision, he stated simply: “There is no appeal.” He said I could go before the association Board of Directors after the election and beg them to change the rule for future elections, but my guilt would not be washed away.

My association isn’t exactly perfect. Recently, it hired a trash collection firm that was about to go out of business. Trash piled up on sidewalks for days, making the community look like a third world country. There have been dubious practices for counting votes in Board of Director elections. I am a former vice chair of the association’s Open Space Committee and have attended many Board meetings. But I stopped going when it became clear that some key people believe that their job is to control rather than support the people who live here.

I don’t pretend to be a saint. On a few occasions I have put my trash and recycling out to the curb a few minutes before 6 p.m. I was busted by the association because my cats had made pinhole-sized perforations in the window screens on my back deck—perforations almost invisible to the naked eye and surely invisible to any neighbor. Still, I try to be a good citizen. I keep my lawn reasonably well maintained. I have never yelled at a kid to “get off my lawn.” When there’s a cure for sarcasm, I’ll be the first in line for treatment. Last year, I won a President’s Volunteer Service Award for doing the community work I enjoy. Seriously.

Something else bothers me almost as much as my association’s narrow-mindedness. All this happened because a neighbor complained about my sign to the association. Why wouldn’t that neighbor knock on my door first and ask me to take down the sign? I would do so in a second if he or she could give me a good reason why such a modest expression of my political preferences was harming them or their home or their family. I’m happy to report that one of my neighbors on the other side of the street has put out the same sign—and has kept it displayed.

The polarization that is gripping our neighborhoods and our nation must be ratcheted down. I’m not sure how or when that can happen. People are set in their opinions. Just watch the people entering the county early-voting site: Half are angry enough to spit blood; half seem hopeful, even if they are worried at the same time.

I’ll pay the fines that the association promises to assess against me. If I don’t pay, they can prevent me from selling my house in the event that I decide that I’ve had enough of this mind control.

But, until Nov. 6, I’m not taking down that sign.