Larry Beane, one of the candidates for the vacant Manchester Select Board position, said that on Tuesday, he had nine signs stolen and six signs knocked over across Manchester in the last month. He said his opponent, Donald McLeod, has also had signs stolen. Ethan Horton/Kennebec Journal

MANCHESTER — With Election Day two weeks away, officials across the region are reporting dozens of instances of campaign signs being stolen or purposefully knocked over.

Larry Beane, one of the candidates for the vacant Manchester Select Board position, said he has had nine signs stolen and six signs knocked over across Manchester in the last month. One sign, he said, was removed as recently as Tuesday morning on Pond Road, a corridor both candidates said they have struggled to keep signs up.

He said he bought 20 signs last month for about $300 – his largest campaign expense – and can’t afford to buy any more.

“Pond Road, I just got another call this morning asking for another sign because one of those signs is gone, so I went and replaced that,” Beane said. “That’s my last sign.”

Beane’s opponent, Donald McLeod, has run for Select Board twice before. He said he sign stealing has been an issue in each of his campaigns, but that this election has been much worse than usual.

Out of the 25 signs he bought for his campaign, McLeod said he can only account for 17.

Stealing political signs from a public right-of-way easement – a stretch of land on the sides of most roads where most campaign signs are placed – or other public land can be penalized with a $250 fine. A person who takes a sign from private property can be charged with theft, a Class E crime punishable by up to six months incarceration and a $1,000 fine.

The Maine Department of Transportation enforces regulations about how political signs can be placed in public right-of-ways and can remove signs that violate those regulations.

But Meghan Russo, the director of government affairs for the Maine DOT, said only one political sign has been removed in Manchester and that the owner was contacted about how to retrieve it.

Neither Beane nor McLeod have been contacted by the Maine DOT about an improperly placed sign. Collectively, they have lost 17 signs.

Both candidates said they have also struggled with signs being knocked over, but not stolen. McLeod said some of his signs have had the stakes removed entirely, while the sign was placed on the ground. Both said they have committed to picking up the other candidate’s signs if they see them knocked over, and that they would never sabotage the other’s signs.

In fact, the first time Beane ever saw one of his signs was knocked over, he also saw one of McLeod’s laying on the ground. Beane stood up the signs and called McLeod to let him know.

“I really like Larry (Beane), he’s a nice guy,” McLeod said. “I would never – and he and I have both been ones that, if I see his sign down or he sees mine, we’ll pick it up.”

Sign stealing has not been limited to Manchester during this election cycle, though.

The Clinton Police Department released a statement Monday saying they had received several complaints about signs being defaced or stolen, and warning residents that they can be charged with crimes if they deface or remove campaign signs.

“It’s quite sad that we have to make this post but as a reminder, it is illegal to remove or deface political signs that do not belong to you,” the Clinton police statement said. “We certainly understand everyone has their own political views and beliefs and that you may not agree with the sign, and that is perfectly fine, but you are not entitled to steal or deface the sign, nor does it help your cause in any way.”

Joanne Mason, the chair of the Kennebec Democratic Committee, said dozens of signs promoting Democratic candidates up and down the ballot have been taken in central and northern Kennebec County.

At the Belgrade Village Green, she said, there have been several instances where every sign promoting a Democrat has been removed, while the signs promoting Republicans have been left standing. In other instances, signs promoting Democrats have been taken from private property or public rights-of-way.

Each time, the committee has replaced the signs and reported the incident to law enforcement.

“It’s a time distraction,” Mason said. “They’ve removed the signs and when we have a chance we run and we replace them. It’s ridiculous. But the fact of the matter is that it’s not gonna take our candidates away from knocking on doors and it’s not gonna take our candidates from attending events so that they can talk to the people.”

The Kennebec County Republican Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Republican candidates have also reported signs stolen.

Emily Cook, director of communications for the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, which has oversight over elections, said the department doesn’t track reports of stolen elections signs and when they receive such reports, they are referred to law enforcement. The office’s only jurisdiction over signs involves the requirement that signs be kept at least 250 feet away from a public polling place.

“We want to make sure voters can access polling places and cast ballot without any undue influence,” Cook said.