6th District runoff: Campaign sign thefts hit both candidates

NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Tensions are growing in the 6th District congressional runoff and there are still four weeks to the election.

Supporters on both sides are reporting a rash of campaign sign thefts and sign vandalism.

Jon Ossoff's and Karen Handel's signs dot the landscape in Roswell.

Supporters of both said people are going around and plucking the signs right out of the ground.

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A Roswell woman said she took a picture of the man and his car. She asked Channel 2's Mike Petchenik not to identify her because she fears retaliation.

"I saw him maybe pick up three or four from people's yards and another three signs from the roundabout,” she said. "I asked him why he was doing that and he explained why he thought it was his legal right to do that."

The woman who didn’t want to be identified and her neighbors have already reported the man in the picture to police.

“He didn't have the right to go in other people's yards and take their signs,” she said. "I hope they can find this man and hold him accountable."

So far police said they haven't tracked down the man in the picture, but if they do that person will face theft charges.

Police already charged a man last month after a similar theft.

Another viewer sent Petchenik other pictures of Ossoff signs slashed in half, and of a flyer one group is posting across the 6th District discouraging the practice.

One that's hitting both sides of the aisle.

"It's sleazy,” she said.

John Frisbie is a Handel supporter.

"I worked very hard, went door to door, put up 15 signs, on my street, neighborhood streets.
Got up this morning," Frisbie said. "Everyone gone."

Frisbie said he plans to report the thefts to police.

"Free speech,” Frisbie said. “We have a right to say who we're for."

Cox Media Group