In New Hampshire, if you violate election law, you can have your right to vote in the state revoked. Forever. It is rarely used, but perhaps it should be, especially when we are talking about those who steal political signs.
It is a big problem, especially in New Hampshire. I can’t tell you how many sign-stealing stories we’ve published, but it is a sliver of a reaction to the sum of all incidents. Hundred, if not thousands, of signs go missing, and while a few are waiting at a local town shed – having been moved by town employees who could not do their jobs otherwise (this is legal), many are taken as a political statement of opposition.
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Later, while continuing to patrol the area, the officer was in the area Fort Eddy Road area and saw the three people again, only this time, the officer said one of the three people appeared to be removing signs from the public way, and walking away with them, according to Deputy Chief John Thomas of the Concord Police Department. The officer headed over to the Fort Eddy Road parking lot of Pizzeria Uno where the three people were to find out what was going on. The officer said inside the back of a vehicle was a pile of signs, Thomas said.
“All of them were Trump signs,” he said.
The suspect accused of pulling the signs up and taking them was identified as Hannah Elizabeth Lawrence, 18, of Clearview Drive in Bow. She was arrested and charged with remove-deface political advertising, a misdemeanor.
I don’t care whose signs they were, you are not going to send a message to anyone to stop this activity until you put some teeth into the punishment. Losing the right to vote for election law violations should apply. All those educators who encourage students to vote (typically for Democrats) would go out of their way to tell them not to steal signs.
If they can’t vote for Democrats, what good are they?
Hannah is 18 years old. She will likely get a tiny fine and a slap on the wrist, if that. Something that would look great on any aspiring progressive resume. It would be viewed as an honor and encourage more of the same behavior. Radical groups would line up to reimburse her (or others) for the fine. Maybe even pay her to engage in the activity.
However, they can’t give her back the lost right to vote. She should lose it. That would send a message.
