ST. LOUIS – Election Day is just two weeks away, and many voters across the area are showing their support for candidates with signs in their yard.
But recently, many have brought to light their concerns about signs in their yard being stolen.
FOX 2’s sister station in the Ozarks, KOLR, reported on a Missouri woman using an AirTag to locate her own stolen Harris/Walz campaign sign. A recent thread on St. Louis’ Reddit page also holds conversations of individuals expressing their fears for retaliation of putting signs in their yards.
It hasn’t been an increasing issue for just Missouri, either. Sister stations in North Carolina and Florida are just some examples of other states battling the same problem.
These events raise the question: Is it illegal to steal election signs from other people’s yards in Missouri?
The short answer is yes, it is.
Missouri’s Revisor of Statutes 115.637 states “stealing or willfully defacing, mutilating, or destroying any campaign yard sign on private property, except that this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the right of any private property owner to take any action with regard to campaign yard signs on the owner’s property and this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the right of any candidate, or the candidate’s designee, to remove the candidate’s campaign yard sign from the owner’s private property after the election day.”
The statute deems the class four offense as a misdemeanor, but a conviction can lead to imprisonment for up to a year, a $2,500 fine, or both.
Some social media users have taken to platforms to share their deterrents from thieves stealing their campaign signs, which include putting petroleum jelly mixed with glitter along the sides, attaching an AirTag to it, using a surveillance camera, and more.
One user commented on the Reddit thread, “No matter the side of politics you are on, this is wrong and happens way too much these days. It accomplishes nothing and is in fact illegal. If you disagree with someone, vote, but taking signs doesn’t change their minds.”
