Campaign signs targeted by vandals ahead of presidential election

Political fights hit close to home

With the election less than a month away, there are campaign signs nearly everywhere you look. They’re in medians, they’re in front yards, and perhaps as a result – they’re increasingly being targeted by vandals too.

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - With the election less than a month away, there are campaign signs nearly everywhere you look. They’re in medians, they’re in front yards, and perhaps as a result – they’re increasingly being targeted by vandals too.

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For instance, more than 50 signs placed in public street medians by the Arlington County Democratic Committee have been vandalized just in the past week, according to a spokesperson for the group.

At least 30 of those signs, including some supporting Democratic candidates Joe Biden and Mark Warner, had been placed along Sycamore Street between Williamsburg Circle and Lee Highway, and on Little Falls Road at Lexington Street.

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“It looks like someone actually drove onto the median [at Little Falls Road] to run over the signs,” Arlington Democrats Chair Jill Caiazzo was quoted as saying in a press release. “We always get a certain amount of vandalism, but the vandals are off to a fast and aggressive start this year.”

In another instance, several of the signs in longtime civil rights activist Joan Mulholland’s Arlington front yard were damaged as well.“They are infringing on the rights of others. If they want to put up a contrary sign for the other candidate or the other side of a cause, that’s good, that’s their right. But to infringe on my freedom of speech,” Mulholland told Fox 5 Tuesday, “that’s wrong.”

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Another campaign sign incident that occurred in Easton, Maryland, this past weekend has drawn national attention.

According to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, a bomb squad was called out to check on suspicious devices attached to political campaign signs supporting President Donald Trump.

In the end, however, the devices weren’t bombs – they were small alarms. “It appears that the purpose of the devices was to thwart the theft or removal of the sign,” the Fire Marshal said in a release.

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Experts didn’t have many suggestions for stopping much of the vandalism, with one police spokesperson noting that the task can be especially difficult, given that the signs are typically left outside and unattended for lengthy periods of time.