Campaign signs dotted the sides of Junction Street in north Durango on Wednesday. But just before the street bends northwest toward Dalla Mountain Park, some signs had been shredded.
A Durango couple was left feeling unnerved and violated after they discovered their “Harris-Walz” campaign signs torn apart.
Reginald Graham, 93, and Beverly Graham, 88, had just returned Wednesday from a weeklong trip when their son, Scott Graham, who lives nearby, told them their campaign signs had been vandalized.
Their son filed a police report Wednesday morning.
In addition to the “Harris-Walz” sign, the Grahams found a sign endorsing Democratic candidate Katie Stewart for Colorado House District 59 uprooted and thrown aside, although it was still in one piece.
Beverly said of all the election cycles she and her husband have been through, they have never had a campaign sign vandalized. But the vandalism discovered Wednesday was the second time this month their signs were tampered with.
Shortly before they left on their trip, they had other campaign signs stolen, she said. They didn’t bother to report that incident.
Reginald said he sees the vandalism as a threat against democracy and destruction of his and his wife’s rights to freedom of expression.
“You can’t even have freedom of speech to express who you would like to have elected,” he said. “And for some reason, some people think that you shouldn’t have that right.”
Beverly said the 2024 United States elections are “touchier” than previous elections.
“You can see it, the difference. People are frustrated,” she said.
Reginald added that that’s not an excuse to steal and damage property.
He said this election cycle has been “cantankerous.”
Democratic Party supporters aren’t the only victims of property theft and vandalism when it comes to elections and politics.
Durango Police Cmdr. Jacob Dunlap said Wednesday that Durango Police Department has received six other reports of theft or vandalism of campaign signs in the last two weeks.
The acts have occurred sporadically around town, he said. In total, six of the targeted signs showed support for Harris and Walz. One incident targeted a sign showing support for Donald Trump.
Dunlap said sometimes the perpetrators are kids caught up in tomfoolery; other times, they are adults caught up in their emotions.
Dunlap said theft, vandalism and tampering of campaign signs is fairly common in Durango during election season, particularly in the days leading up to Election Day during major election cycles.
In 2020, when Trump and President Joe Biden were vying for the White House, the Durango Police Department received 10 reports of theft or tampering between the end of September and Election Day, he said.
Political affiliation of the targeted signs weren’t recorded by officers in every instance, but police records showed five documented thefts of Trump signs and one theft of a “Biden-Harris” sign, Dunlap said.
“We did have a few instances where people brought the signs back and apologized,” he said, noting some complainants declined to press charges after talking to the perpetrators.
Four citations were issued, including one in which a sign owner declined to pursue charges but an officer still decided to issue a ticket, he said.
He said signs hold value, regardless of whether they were purchased or obtained for free, and stealing them is theft. Moving signs to different yards or gathering them all in another place could be considered criminal tampering.
Earlier this year, on Oct. 4, a man was charged with assault after he recognized several kids who had been stealing signs. He allegedly grabbed one of the kids and held onto the child, Dunlap said.
Emotions can run high during the final throes of an election cycle, Dunlop said, but Americans are afforded the right to express their political views, and interfering with those rights by stealing or destroying personal property is a crime.
“There’s the bigger picture of just being good citizens; freedom of speech, freedom of expression,” he said. “We’re a great country because we should allow people (to express their beliefs).”
cburney@durangoherald.com
