Get used to them. If they're on private property, there's very little that either the city or state can do about them.

Meanwhile, a new type of "roving" political sign that is critical of a particular candidate is raising a stir and could be creating a new chapter in Hawai'i's election handbook.

Kathy Sokugawa, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Planning and Permitting, says her agency has no jurisdiction over the size, content or anything else about campaign signs on private property.

And while a state law on the books requires that campaign signs not be erected earlier than 45 days before an election, the attorney general's office determined several years ago that the law is unenforceable because of freedom of speech rights under the U.S. Constitution.

The Outdoor Circle has received about the same number of complaints regarding standard campaign yard signs as in previous election years, Steiner said, but the grousing began earlier. "We probably take one or two calls a day, starting in June, moving forward," she said. Most of the complaints are about the signs' size and abundance.

"They're wanting us to do something to get rid of them and not allow them," Steiner said. "We can't do anything about them on private property anytime, anywhere."

The Outdoor Circle is speaking to lawmakers about passing some kind of legislation that would at least pertain to the time over which they can be up. Recognizing the free-speech issue, Steiner said she is seeking the help of constitutional law experts in crafting such a bill.

"It's obvious that the public does not like seeing all these political signs," she said. Until then, Steiner said, all she can do is advise complainants to take the issue up with candidates directly.

What is illegal are campaign signs along the sides of state and city roadways, or on other government property, and officials say they actively respond to those complaints.

Complaints about signs along state thoroughfares, including all freeways, highways and most major boulevards, should be directed to the state Department of Transportation's Highway Maintenance Division at 831-6714, according to spokesman Scott Ishikawa.

Typically, the state will try to find the signs' owners and ask them to take them down within a reasonable time or will have workers remove them, he said.

The city has several places to call, depending on where the signs are, according to city spokesman Doug Woo. Complaints about yard signs along city street sidewalks would be addressed by the Department of Planning and Permitting at 527-6308. Complaints about campaign signs along median strips are the purview of the Department of Parks and Recreation at 692-5582. And complaints about signs along the fences of city facilities should be directed to 523-CITY.

Kane'ohe resident Barbara Duran said she's disturbed that the signs are getting larger and, with some even including the photos of candidates, more distracting. She said she asked one candidate to take down his sign when it went up a year ago but that she was ignored.

The sign was red with white, bold-faced letters followed by an exclamation point but no reference to the office the candidate was seeking, Duran said. "I didn't know if it was a new soft drink," she said. While she's not sure she would definitely vote against someone because of obnoxious yard signs, she said she would be "disinclined" to vote for such a candidate.

Duran said she empathizes with the candidates, however. "Now that they've proliferated to this degree, I suppose you're sinking yourself if you're a good guy and don't put any signs any place," she said. "I imagine to be on the same footing you have to make sure yours have to go up every place. So it's just a forest of signs and I'm not sure that does anybody any good."

Not all O'ahu residents oppose the signs. Lucena Foronda, 76, said candidates have asked to put up signs on the gate in her yard for several years now. This year, there are placards for mayoral hopefuls Duke Bainum and Mufi Hannemann on her property fronting Palama Street.

"No bother us, just put," Foronda said. The signs obviously don't imply a preference for any one candidate over another but that doesn't mean she will forgo her civic duty to select one come the fall.

Meanwhile, a new type of political sign began cropping up along Pali Highway and other major roadways around the island. Motorists say the signs are 15 feet wide, in sections and free-standing. According to motorist reports, the signs appear only during rush-hour traffic, and with a van parked next to them whose driver sets them out and then collects them later.

Perhaps most intriguing is that rather than promote a candidacy, they all criticize mayoral candidate and former city councilman Duke Bainum on various issues and allude to his family's wealth.

A spokeswoman for former councilman Mufi Hannemann, Bainum's main rival in the mayor's race, said the Hannemann campaign is not responsible for the signs and doesn't know who is responsible.

Ishikawa said neither he nor others at DOT have received any complaints specifically about the "roving" signs. He's not sure if such signs would be considered stationary yard signs or as akin to sign-wavers who are allowed to campaign by greeting motorists while holding a sign along the side of a road.

"We've dealt with stationary signs before but not roving signs," Ishikawa said. "There's a fine line between sign-waving and what these guys are doing. We'll have to see."

Steiner said that since Aug. 11, her group has been getting several complaints a day about the roving signs and the negative messages they convey.

Steiner is also in a quandary on how to define the new signs. "They're not waving signs, because they're not holding the signs," she said. " But because people are taking them away after rush hour, I don't know. Those kinds of sign-abusers are hard to catch."