VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — In the runup to Election Day, there have been a number of campaign signs vandalized in Virginia Beach.
The damaged signs started popping up around the Resort City three weeks ago, first, with red spray paint.
When voter Melissa Lukeson noticed the spray-painted Aaron Rouse and Mike Feggans signs nearly a month ago on her way to work, she took matters into her own hands.
“I brought some acrylic paint with me, took a paintbrush and fixed it all up. You could hardly tell,” Lukeson told 10 On Your Side.
She told us a couple weeks later, the vandalism got worse — with those same signs now missing the names of the candidates who paid for them. Their names were literally cut out of the signs with a knife or boxcutter.
“We reacted so quickly and fixed the signs that they then resorted to cutting out their names because they obviously know we can’t repair that,” Lukeson said.
Voter Greg Ferritto tells us when he saw the cut-outs, he immediately contacted both campaigns and posted his findings on social media.
“We have enough problems in this world right now, we don’t need to be vandalizing signs,” Ferritto said. “Go vote, that’s the big thing. If you don’t like something, vote.”
The Rouse campaign for Senate acknowledged the damaged signs and sent us the following statement:
“We’re focused on closing the final days of this election running a positive campaign and turning out Virginia Beach voters in support of Sen. Rouse ahead of Election Day.”
As of Monday night, the damaged signs are still up throughout the city.
It is against the law to vandalize campaign signs. Those caught doing it could face fines or jail time.
