Candidates in the Ward 3 byelection here are complaining of stolen and damaged election signs.
Candidate Cliff Heffernan is requesting his stolen signs be returned to him.
“Many (signs) have been taken, stolen and others that I found are ripped apart and destroyed,” he told the Advertiser.
Heffernan is asking the approximately 25 missing signs to be returned to him, “no questions asked, just glad to have them back… this is my first experience to run for an election.”
Jens Dam said he went to the police about his damaged signs
“Twenty-five percent of my signs … were ripped out and a number of them I have not been able to find again,” he said.
Candidate Lisa Hern has had a few signs with holes in them, but said she is not worried about it.
“Part of it comes with the territory,” she said.
Candidate Ross Chaulk is also dealing with missing or vandalized signs saying this has been the worst election he has ran in for sign damage.
Candidates John Matusinec and Stephen O’Neill have seen signs overturned, but they both suspect weather is the cause. O’Neill added he has had a few signs go missing.
Gerald Shepetunko, another candidate in the Nov. 16 byelection, does not have campaign signs, but he too attributes overturned signs to natural causes.
Cst. Cheri Rockefeller said the OPP were unaware of missing election signs.
However, OPP warned during last year’s municipal election that stealing or defacing election signs can result in a fine or jail time .
Police are asking anyone witnessing such incidents to report them.
Another candidate David Culp could not be reached by press time.
