Okay, the heat is on - voting is just a short 8 days from now, and it's obvious the last posting has gotten some great response and search volume. So, I'm going to back up for a second and give you some "real world" advice.
What to do if someone steals your campaign signs - and you actually know it's a person, not 1) a few young vandals with no intention of harming you politically, or 2) the weather.
First off, never - EVER - put a sign in illegally. It's not littering, it's unfair and it's not right. And never – EVER – take your opponent signs, no matter how unfairly they are being to you. You must remember, YOU have to play fair, even when your opponent doesn't. Why? You'll be better off in the long run.
Story time: I had a school board client recently who worked his tail off to get 4X8 commercial locations. He must have gotten 20 locations - that's a lot for a local school board race. His opponent’s husband came by and put in her 2X4 signs right next to his - NEVER getting permission from the land owner. They just thought since his wife's opponent was there with a sign, they could too. NOT THE CASE!
My client lost. But turns out the "lady" in question is not in deep trouble and will probably get kicked off the school board. Suffice to say, the law of sowing and reaping is alive and well these days. (Always remember that!) While my client didn’t win, he played fair and square and can hold his head high for being an upstanding and fair-play person.
Okay, back to your question...
What are some very common reasons your sign may no longer be in someone's residential yard?
1. It may be a rental house and the owner/tenant took it out
2. Two votes in one house have different opinions about who to vote for and the sign that was once "okay" to be in the yard is now no longer okay
3. The lawn mower, whoever it was, didn't/forgot to replace the sign after mowing
4. The voter changed their mind and they no longer want to display your sign - this happens for MANY reasons and you shouldn't get freaked out by it
5. They gave their sign to a friend because the intent to get another one soon (and you're obsessing about it way too much) - this sounds unlikely - I even didn't believe this, but have seen it a gazillion times and I'm still amazed
6. The homeowner is going out of town and took the sign down (another excuse I thought was totally bunk and have heard it so many times, it needs to get included in this list)
There are other factors at work here other than your evil opponent stealing your signs. Frankly, (and it’s hard to believe this now, because you’ve worked so hard on your campaign it’s easiest to blame the other side) most of your signs are not being stolen by the other side. Does it happen? YES – OF COURSE! But are the bulk of your missing signs being stolen by the other side? No.
You cannot expect that if your signs are missing from several locations that your opponent is stealing them. It’s simply a bad assumption.
However, if you lose 60 or more signs out of say 200, chances are someone is intentionally taking them.
Here’s the deal with that though. USUALLY, no candidate is stupid enough to take someone else’s signs. Remember, I said usually. Each election cycle, some jackass candidates DOES steal their opponent’s signs and it’s caught on video tape. So, yes, it does happen. But an actual candidate stealing their opponent’s signs is rare. (This will not sit well with most candidates or politicians because they think anytime a sign is missing, it was stolen by the other side.)
Most times, when signs are actually stolen – really STOLEN - it’s a “well-intentioned” supporter of your opponent’s. They are usually new-comers to politics. They think they are helping. They think that they are being tricky, hacky and hurting the other side.
In reality they only risk hurting the candidate they are trying to help.
Opinions abound in politics, but here’s an opinion you would do well to hear: most people can’t judge how many campaign signs you have up. You could have 100 up in a small neighborhood, or 1,000 – and you’d get a different estimate from each person you talked to. In fact, experienced professionals – paid “experts” often times have no clue how many signs to order…and often misjudge the demand for signs – too high and too low.
Instead of focusing on the “stolen” signs, you need to be going door to door asking people for votes.
Remember, you must have campaign signs for your campaign. But, campaign signs don’t vote – people do.
Therefore, get your signs up, get as many locations as you can; get signs up along busy streets and then try to penetrate deep into residential neighborhoods.
Get enough signs to put up through Election Day and at the polling place. Don’t worry about all the signs your losing. Just keep putting signs up, knocking on doors and asking for votes.
