Sawt Falasteen - Lawn sign wars: US election drains neighborhood spirit

"They said they know where she lives and where she works," the 49-year-old told AFP from his home in Fairfax, Virginia, where a single sign now remains with a picture of Trump raising his fist after surviving a July assassination attempt.

Besthoff, a plumber, had tried to deter the vandals -- including by slathering oil from sardine tins onto the signs -- but still, he says, more than a dozen were stolen in the run-up to the November 5 vote.

Democratic supporters have also been targeted in neighborhoods across the country split over the election.

In Missouri, a woman followed an Apple AirTag she had placed in her Kamala Harris sign to a car in a nearby town. When confronted, the owner opened their vehicle to reveal scores of Harris signs.

"I expected to find the AirTag, but not 59 signs. It was kind of like finding a dead body," the woman, Laura McCaskill, told local media.

The White House race between Trump and Harris has polarized voters on hot-button issues from abortion rights to immigration laws.

A record-high 80 percent of US adults believe Americans are greatly divided on the most important values, according to a Gallup poll in September.

The humble lawn sign is part of American life, often used to promote a sports team or child's school. But with political tensions playing out in local neighborhoods, the traditional election signs have proved too much for some.

- 'It's just crazy' -

Besthoff -- a Republican Party member living in a county that voted 70 percent Democrat in 2020 -- anticipated some backlash to his pro-Trump lawn signs that boasted "Trump Secure Border, Kamala Open Border."

But he was still shocked by the frequency and audacity of the vandalism -- all of which were caught by his home's security cameras and shared with AFP.

One video captures a hooded man ripping a sign from Besthoff's front yard before tossing it down the street and driving away. Another shows a woman stuffing signs into a black garbage bag.

The final straw was online messages sent to his wife's beauty salon, identifying where she lived and, according to Besthoff, threatening to tarnish her business with bad reviews if the signs were not removed.

"It's just crazy," Besthoff said. "My wife feels that if I put the signs up I'm instigating a 'wild dog' as she calls them.

"She is allowing me to put up one sign reluctantly, but she is also requesting that I remove the sign. Every day it's a back and forth thing now between us."

Matthew Hurtt, a Republican Party official in Virginia, told AFP he had received reports of at least 100 stolen signs since early October.

Lawn sign theft is a criminal offense in most US states but it is seldom prosecuted due to the low value of signs and difficulties in identifying thieves.

Yet for many, the greatest cost of these incidents is freedom of expression and a loss of neighborhood tolerance.

"It's respecting your neighbors, respecting their First Amendment rights," Harris supporter McCaskill said.

Hurtt agreed: "It has a chilling effect on political speech."

H.Jarrar--SF-PST