ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Right before an election, it’s common for campaign signs to disappear, snatched up by people who dislike the politicians.
While frustrating for the candidates, it’s also expensive.
So this year, two women running separately for St. Johns County commission put GPS tracking devices on their signs.
They are Ann-Marie Evans and Ann Taylor.
Evans said, "It was pretty upsetting that our signs would be stolen when there’s not even that many of them."
"A number of them have been disappearing," Taylor added.
Evans and Taylor are advertising together. Some of their signs read "Elect the Anns." Their advertising manager Nicole Crosby said they notified police when some of the large and small signs vanished.
But that’s not all. They decided to put GPS tracking devices on some of the signs.
Sure enough, Friday evening someone illegally moved one of those signs and the tracking software showed the sign on the move. Crosby said the sign and the tracker appeared to be left at the end of a long dock on the Guana River, 1250 A1A Ponte Vedra Boulevard in Ponte Vedra.
Crosby called the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. She said two deputies arrived who -- with the property owner’s permission – walked onto the property and retrieved three 10-foot-tall signs along and several smaller yard signs. They were all for Taylor' and Evans' campaign. Crosby said the deputies also found a sign for candidate Clay Murphy. They are all running on slow growth platforms in a county where neighborhoods are being rapidly developed.
First Coast News reached out to the owner of the property who we have not confirmed yet. However, his attorney called First Coast News Monday and had no comment.
At this point, it is unclear who took the signs from their original locations.
On the roadside of the property was a sign for incumbent Roy Alaimo. First Coast News reached out to Alaimo, and we have not heard back.
First Coast News also called County Commissioner Henry Dean who is running against Ann Taylor. He said, "The idea of anyone taking signs down, whether they're for my opponent or for me is wrong. It's just plain wrong."
He said some of his signs are also missing.
Ann-Marie Evans is running against St. Johns County Commissioner Christian Whitehurst. Whitehurst wrote First Coast News, "I haven’t touched anyone’s signs and I have instructed all of my friends not to touch anyone else’s signs."
He said a different property owner says his opponents' signs are being placed on his property, "which is trespassing. How can we elect people who are willing to break laws to get elected?"
Taylor and Evans said they've placed signs where the property owners have allowed them.
Of course over the years and again this year, candidates' supporters may have incorrectly placed or removed signs.
First Coast News contacted the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office multiple times for more information Monday and Tuesday about the case with the GPS tracker. We have been told deputies did indeed respond to 1250 Ponte Vedra Boulevard Friday evening, and that there is a follow-up investigation.
As for the large signs traced by a little tracking device, Taylor said, "We definitely want to deter anyone from doing this again."
Evans said, "I think were they ended up they were put there designed for us not to find otherwise."
"What we’ll never get back -- and what these two candidates will never recover -- is the lost visibility of these signs during very critical weeks," Crosby said.