Signs of Community

A newspaper-style piece about political merchandise vandalism in the final weeks of the polarizing 2016 election season. Produced for a multimedia newsgathering class focused on different forms of the same story. You can find the video version here.

Along the narrow streets lined in suburban houses that wind through Norman, many residents can be spotted replacing political signs in their front yards, or cleaning up the debris from those that were previously intact. Unfortunately, vandalism targeted toward candidate support merchandise is known to be a constant and evasive issue.

For Norman residents Brad and Beth Quinn, taking this in stride has become a challenge as the election closes in. Harmless daily commentary ranges from supportive cheers to profanity as passerby respond to the Clinton signs lining their lawn, but the stealing and destruction of those signs gives the Quinns a sense of threat.

“Our yard is basically a public area to kids and people that pass by, kind of like a little park. So when the vandals took the sign by our sidewalk, that annoyed me; that meant someone was prowling around right outside our door,” Brad Quinn said.

Their long-held philosophy of openness has given them the privilege of meeting neighbors that range from right next door to multiple states away, a philosophy that they say often shocks people with its apparent disregard of safety precautions. Although every season produces different challenges from the people who pass by, they always find a way to laugh about it later.

“It’s kind of ironic how stealing the signs of a particular candidate puts money back into their campaign, since the property owners will usually just go out and buy some more,” Beth Quinn said. “We’ve wondered before if it was a conspiracy for the Democratic Party to just get more money.”

The distributors of these campaign items see the issue as a breach of safety for consumers, but there is still little that can be done. At five dollars per item, the signs aren’t nearly as substantial a source of revenue as events like fundraisers are. Upkeep of party merchandise isn’t as highly prioritized as the supporters who purchase the items.

When Cleveland County Democratic Party communications director Sarah Baker ran for office in 2014, the incidents she heard from supporters gave her individualized insight into some of the worst case scenarios from those practicing their freedom of speech.

“I met a gentleman who told me that he was excited to vote for me, but he told me that he never puts signs in his yard. And he proceeded to tell me that he had an Obama bumper sticker on his vehicle sitting in his driveway, and he came out one morning and his yard sign had been destroyed, and some of the windows in his car had been broken out, and the Obama bumper sticker had been written on with a Sharpie,” said Baker.

The issue’s evasiveness makes it impossible to get perpetrators in trouble for this specific strain of vandalism. So far, there have been no sustainable ways to direct consequences to specific vandals, and every sign and sticker comes with a risk of a run-in with an opponent. Ordinarily, this is a risk that the buyer is willing to take.

“It’s the same childish mentality that leads high schoolers to TP somebody’s yard. The sad fact is that we have adults that have not grown out of that mentality and that this is an acceptable thing for them to do,” said Baker.

All the party centers can do to help in the aftereffects of incidents is to sell reliably identical copies of merchandise, and advise supporters of the mix between expression and safety. Although signs and other merchandise aren’t the most major contribution to their respective party’s funding, they still put a major dent in places that don’t necessarily land exclusively in presidential campaign funding. Baker explained that profits also go towards local campaigns and events at county and state levels.

Even through the benefits, mistrust of neighbors is a common response of vocal supporters who have gone through cases of vandalism and trespassing. On the other hand, residents like the Quinns use their strengthened voice to keep their space more open to interaction than ever.

Rather than trying to fight back, the pair sees this clash as just a side effect of their democratic world. Their philosophy is that differences of opinion are what keep the neighborhood colorful, even when the neighborhood extends the length of a country.

“I suppose the best we can do is change our own perspective. Any time you put your opinion out in the world, you’ll hear something back about what you think. If you write something in the newspaper that’s controversial, you’re going to get some flak for it. That’s how you know you’ve got something interesting to say.” Brad Quinn said.