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Monday, November 4, 2024

It's illegal to steal or damage campaign signs

These signs have been damaged and removed several times.

“A person who removes or defaces lawfully placed political advertising including yard signs or billboards without authorization is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable to the same extent as a misdemeanor that is punishable under RCW 9A.20.021. The defacement or removal of each item constitutes a separate violation.”

Yet every campaign season there are people - almost always males - stealing or damaging lawfully placed signs.

A reader reported their signs being stolen from their cul de sac by two men driving large vehicles, presumably collecting signs from a large area.

Social media reports talk about signs being removed from an entire section along 185th in the Echo Lake / Meridian Park neighborhoods.

In Lake Forest Park, a reader reports that

"We had our Bob Ferguson sign stolen a few weeks back (as did a number of neighbors). I replaced it and put it up in the tree. Last night someone stole my Harris sign that was zip tied to our fence and ripped our We Believe (women’s rights, Black Lives Matter, science etc) sign in half!"

Report these incidents to your police department and provide your security videos. 


3 comments:

  1. Please cite your source for “almost always males.”

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am curious how you know that it is "almost always males" who are removing and destroying yard signs. Two of my neighbors are women in their late 60s who make it a point of removing yard signs in public rights of way and threatening other neighbors who report them for removing the signs. It is sexist and frankly damaging to demonize an entire gender for removing signs, and unless you have information otherwise, it is simply untrue.

    Please print a retraction immediately. If you must know I am a woman and disgusted by my neighbors' practice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My HARRIS sign was taken. 🥲

    ReplyDelete

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