Political Prank or Partisan Attack? Partisan Vandals Target Campaign Signs
Some voters are turning to the Web to deter campaign lawn-sign thieves.
Oct. 21, 2008 — -- Across the nation, supporters of both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are angry that political signs are being vandalized or disappearing altogether.
McCain supporter Kittye Sears, 50, of Manassas, Va., awoke one morning to find her two McCain yard signs replaced by two Obama campaign signs.
"I found it sort of offensive," Sears told ABCNews.com. "You feel a little bit violated that someone would just come into your yard."
Vandals recently grabbed a McCain lawn sign from the headquarters of the Arkansas Republican Party in Little Rock.
"It's frustrating, but at the same time I know both sides see this kind of vandalism every election cycle," said Elizabeth Aymond of the Republican Party of Arkansas told ABCNews.com.
"It's unfortunate that some people feel this is what they have to stoop to, but I think it only helps out the candidate that they're trying to hurt," Aymond said.
Whether it is a political prank or a more serious case of vandalism, police say there is little they can do.
"This occurs about every four years," said Lucy Caldwell, public information officer for the Fairfax County, Va., police department, who said her department is getting more than 10 reports a day of campaign signs being stolen or defaced.
"There's not a whole lot of follow up we can do if we don't have a witness of either a person who's been doing it or a vehicle description," Caldwell told ABCNews.com.
Fed up, some voters are taking matters into their own hands, installing cameras, signs and turning to the Web to protect their partisan signs.
McCain supporter Mary Lee Carello of Centreville, Va., has installed a surveillance camera to catch the perpetrators who she said stole her McCain yard sign.
She put up a homemade sign of her own that reads "Though shalt not steal! -God."
"We just feel very violated," Carello told ABC affiliate WJLA. "Somebody's trespassing on your property and stealing."
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Preston Fosback, 16, and his mother, Kristine of Portland, Ore., had their Obama signs stolen repeatedly from their front yard.
The signs kept getting stolen until Fosback set up a video camera inside the house and trained it on the sign, and hooked up the camera to a Web site that provided live streaming.
People from around the world are reportedly taking "shifts" watching the live streaming video to protect the sign.
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