As local election season rolls around each year, Orange County candidates take to putting up signs to promote their campaigns. These campaign signs, which go up 30 days before the start of early voting, can be seen scattered across busy intersections, grassy medians, and residents’ front yards. Every year, however, signs are often defaced or go missing as Election Day draws near.
While the removal of a candidate sign seems innocent enough, these actions can have legal consequences.
Chapel Hill resident Geoff Green said several candidate signs he’s placed along the median near his house have mysteriously disappeared over the past few weeks.
“I’m not sure who’s going around doing this or why they’re doing it, but it does appear people do take signs,” Green said. “And they’re taking everybody’s signs as far as I can tell.”
While Green said he doesn’t think the theft of his signs is particularly unusual, he does think this is something that impacts every candidate.
“I’ve heard from multiple candidates, who aren’t necessarily aligned on the issues, that their signs are vanishing,” Green said. “So, from my perspective, it’s not a particular viewpoint or a particular candidate that’s being targeted. It’s everybody. And it sort of puzzles me why people do this.”
Other residents think there’s been an uptick in stolen signs this year as compared to years past.
Chapel Hill resident Will Raymond has been helping put up election signs for the past 20 years. He said he believes certain candidates’ signs have been more specifically targeted than others this election season.
“I would just say that this year – just how methodical, cleanly and targeted this has been – that’s just a true shame for our community,” Raymond said. “It doesn’t reflect our community values and for God’s sake it’s only for 30 days. It’s our democracy, it’s our First Amendment, and it’s just a shame that there are people in our community who just think it’s fine that they can do this.”
Per North Carolina Law, stealing, defacing, vandalizing, or unlawfully removing political signs is a Class 3 misdemeanor. Identified cases, however, rarely ever land in the local criminal courts.
“In candor, it does not happen all that much,” said Jeff Nieman, the Assistant District Attorney for Orange and Chatham County. “I can recall two times in the last five years that it’s been that Class 3 misdemeanor specifically about stealing or defacing or destroying signs.”
Nieman said stealing or defacing candidate signs can land residents with more than just a Class 3 misdemeanor charge and a fine.
“If you went onto somebody’s private land and stole or defaced a sign, you could be charged with either second-degree trespassing or first-degree trespassing,” Nieman said. “And for that you could get up to 60 days in jail if you had a significant prior record.”
Additionally, since candidate signs can be considered property, those who deface such property can be charged with “injury to personal property” — a Class 2 misdemeanor that could lead to 60 days in jail. It could also be considered a Class 1 misdemeanor if the value of the sign destroyed was worth more than $200. That could lead to up to 120 days in jail.
“Then there’s actually one more that I’m thinking of,” Nieman said. “If you were to go on somebody’s private property and steal the sign, you could possibly be charged with misdemeanor larceny. That’s a Class 1 misdemeanor, 120 days maximum possible punishment.”
Of all the years he’s lived in Chapel Hill, Nieman said he doesn’t remember a single election cycle where signs being defaced or removed hasn’t been an issue. With the rise of social media and the age of technology, though, he does think there’s a better chance for citizens to help law enforcement identify perpetrators. Nieman said this could mean using Ring doorbells with cameras to keep a watchful eye over property or simply being a good community member.
“It’s not a right thing to do, and frankly, it’s not helping your candidate by doing it,” Nieman said. “In my experience, there’s usually a negative backlash to it. It usually looks bad for the opposing candidate or candidates. It’s self-defeating and so, I would just say generally, whether or not you end up getting charged with a crime, it’s still just not right. Please don’t do it.”
With early voting set to begin October 14, Raymond said he hopes for more action, not just from watchful Orange County residents, but from the candidates themselves.
“I would love for all the campaigns to stand up and make an unambiguous call right now about messing with the signs,” Raymond said. “They’re only going to be up 15, 16 more days. If you can’t stand looking at a Vimala [Rajendran] sign or an Adam [Searing] sign, or a Hongbin [Gu] sign, just look the other way for a little while and they’ll be gone soon enough.”
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