FLORIDA — There’s just 35 days left until election day.
Florida is a battleground state and as Action News Jax Alicia Tarancon reports with a little over a month until the election, complaints of stolen political signs are pouring in throughout our area.
Amanda Borghese works out of the Office to Re-elect the President in Fernandina Beach.
She said she pays out of pocket for Donald Trump signs and many of them have been taken.
“Every day, if we leave the signs out overnight, the yard signs, whether it’s Black Voices for Trump or Trump - Pence, we find them on the ground or we find them stolen or we find them mutilated,” Borghese said.
Organizers told Tarancon just two days ago someone tried to take down their 7-foot-tall Trump and Pence sign outside their office.
In the Oakleaf community in Clay County, Trump signs were spray painted with the words Black Lives Matter.
When Action News Jax reached out to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office they said no one has reported any damaged or stolen signs.
Tarancon reached out to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office too.
They had reports, but they said there’s no way they can get an accurate number on how many signs have been damaged or stolen.
Action News Jax reported earlier this week that JSO reported several Trump signs were spray painted in red with swastikas.
Fernandina Beach Police told Tarancon so far no one has filed a formal report, but that’s something Borghese says she’s doing on Tuesday.
“I think it’s about time I speak to police, I think it’s about time you should at least get it on the record,” she said.
In the state of Florida, if police do catch you stealing or damaging these signs, you could be charged with theft or vandalism and depending on the value of the sign, it can be considered a misdemeanor or even a felony if the theft is over $750 or the damage is over $1,000.
Action News Jax also reached out to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office.
Both agencies said that they have received no official reports from people in the community of stolen or vandalized political signs.