A sign of the times? Political sign theft, vandalism pops up in South Bay cities

Zip ties. AirTags. Motion activated cameras.

With these supplies, former Cupertino Mayor Richard Lowenthal is ready to catch a thief. But it’s not money, jewelry or electronics he’s protecting – it’s his yard signs.

Read more Massive carport fire in San Jose burns two dozen vehicles

The 74-year-old is supporting a trio of candidates running together for three open seats on the Cupertino City Council: Councilmember J.R Fruen and newcomers Seema Lindskog and John Tang. Plastic signs bearing their names are staked to the ground in front of his house. Lowenthal said he also helps the campaign put up signs on park strips across the city, with the property owner’s consent.

In recent weeks, however, dozens of signs have mysteriously disappeared or been intentionally knocked to the ground.

Suspecting sabotage from other Cupertino council candidates, Lowenthal now zip ties them down to tree or bush branches. He’s had to help a friend install a motion activated wildlife camera in front of their house to deter people from snatching up their signs.

Lowenthal has even placed AirTags on some signs to see where they would end up. The signs moved from Bollinger Road where Lowenthal initaly had placed them, to a Santa Clara home he didn’t recognize. He had to call the cops to get them back.

“My only interest in doing that was to get them to stop,” he said. “I don’t mind putting up signs, but I hate to do that multiple times.”

Incidents of political sign-related theft and vandalism are popping up all over the South Bay as cities close in on selecting their next leaders in the November election. In Cupertino for instance, city staff have received 23 formal complaints regarding yard sign thefts, compared with just six during the last election in 2024, as first reported by San Jose Spotlight.

Garrick Percival, a political science professor at San Jose State University, said a person’s intention for targeting political signs varies. The thefts could be political motivated, or be done as a way to seek attention. Either way, Percival said such act violates someone’s space and property.

“It undermines our efforts to have civil political dialogue to express support for candidates, to feel that someone is going to rip them down as a sign of some kind of protest,” he said.

These days political candidates often turn to social media to spread their campaign, but Percival said physical signs are still integral in local politics.

Read more ‘Frat house’ greeted Wahab at Swalwell’s old Castro Valley office

“Lawn signs are an  individual person’s, or household, expression of political support for a candidate or for a campaign,” he said. “It is an advantage in getting name recognition, which plays a bit role in local elections.”

Each South Bay city has their own rules on where residents put up political signs, and what entities handle theft or vandalism-related incidents. Cupertino stipulates that if the sign was installed with the consent of the property owners, removing the sign without their permission is consider petty theft, which is a misdemeanor. If convicted the charge can carry up to six months of jail time and a fine of up to $1,000.

If residents think a sign has been stolen or damaged, the city directs them to call the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency number, rather than confront the person, which is what Lowenthal did.

The Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have a “specific way” of tracking the number of political sign-related theft, according to spokesperson Brooks Jarosz.

It isn’t just in Cupertino where candidate’s signs are getting defaced.

Los Gatos Mayor Rob Moore, who is running for reelection, said a dozen of his campaign signs have been stolen. One large sign, which hung in front of a downtown business, was recently torn, crumbled and smeared with — what Moore hoped was a dog’s — poop. He ended up cleaning it off and ordering a new sign. Moore said he opted not to report the incident to the town or police department, as it’s common part of the campaigning experience.

“I think half of the reason someone chooses to vandalize a piece of campaign material is to take time and energy away from the campaign,” he said “So my (approach) was, ‘OK if it happens I’m going to put another one up.’ You can’t spend too much time dwelling on it.”

All political signs in Cupertino have to be taken down five days after Election Day while Los Gatos requires 10 days. But Percival said it won’t be long before the signs make their return.

“There is a degree of authenticity in putting a sign in your yard,” he said. “It’s an act, you have to get the sign, you have to get it up. I think there is always going to be room for those things in politics.”

Read more Meta delays enacting new terms as news publishers fight AI scraping