Several hours after someone defaced a Judge Roy Moore campaign sign on U.S. 72 in Athens, the Limestone County Republican Party installed a new one.

The vandal, using red spray paint, had painted a “W” and “H” over the first two letters of Moore’s last name. For several hours Tuesday, the sign said “Judge Roy Whore.”

The Limestone County Republican Party replaced the sign Tuesday evening and added some upgrades — red signs reading, “PRO 2nd Amendment,” “Fight Back Vote Republican,” “Pro Life” and “PRO Constitution.”

Party Chairman Noah Wahl expressed disappointment over the vandalism.

“This is destruction of personal property, and it’s on private property,” he told The News Courier Tuesday. “It really puts a negative shroud (on the election).”

It’s a feeling District 4 Commissioner Ben Harrison knows all too well. Prior to the general election in 2016, Harrison had several hundred dollars’ worth of signs stolen, and an obscene message was scrawled on another.

Harrison filed a report with the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office, but no arrests were made in the case.

Problems on both sides

It’s not just Republican signs that have been targeted, however. Athens resident Kelly Range said he put up five Doug Jones signs, and all but one were stolen.

Campaign sign vandalism and theft isn’t a rare occurrence in Limestone County, and sometimes stolen signs aren’t really stolen at all. Back in 2012, several signs were taken down in the city limits because they were in rights-of-way. The signs were taken up in areas where Athens Public Works crews had to mow or perform maintenance.

The state’s ordinance on campaign signs as is follows:

“… Signs not authorized by the state Department of Transportation may not be posted along the rights-of-way of state highways in Alabama. This means that campaigns should avoid placing signs along state roads. Signs that violate this law may be removed.”

Range said his signs were erected in accordance with the city’s ordinance. He added none should have been removed because they were on private property.

Athens Police Chief Floyd Johnson said he can recall receiving a few complaints about signs in the past but added the police department will generally only remove a sign if it impedes a driver’s line of sight. If a complainant filed a report, he said, stolen campaign signs would bring misdemeanor theft charges, while a damaged sign would be treated as criminal mischief.

There are only a handful of states — Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Washington — that have laws that deal specifically with the theft or vandalism of campaign signs. In both New Hampshire and Washington, removing or defacing lawfully placed political signs can result in fines of up to $1,000. In Washington, a conviction may also result in a jail time of up to 90 days.