Campaign signs vandalized
July 15, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
The growing collection of campaign signs at the Waterbury Welcome sign near the roundabout was vandalized overnight Thursday with all of the signs knocked down, pulled out of the ground and some ripped from their metal frames.
The dozen or so signs were scattered about on the small patch of grass near the entry to downtown Friday morning.
Tyler Keefe, owner of Pack and Send Plus across the small parking lot from the welcome sign came out to tidy up the scene. He said the signs were all intact when he left late Thursday afternoon. His store does not have a security camera trained on the area, so he had no clues to what had happened overnight.
Most of the signs tout candidates running for their party’s nominations for either statewide or Washington County elected offices in the Vermont state primary election on Aug. 9. The majority belonged to Democratic candidates.
"I'm disappointed to see this vandalism, especially since there is a primary in just a few weeks and there are so many great candidates to learn about!” said Liz Schlegel, chair of Waterbury's Democratic Town Committee. “Lawn signs are part of Vermont's political tradition – while incivility is not. Even if you don't like lawn signs, destroying them feels like an attack on civil discourse and that's dangerous for all of us.”
Maggie Kerrin, chair of the Waterbury Town and Washington County Republican committees said some of the campaign signs belonged to Republican candidates. “This makes me very sad,” she said.
Schlegel said she wanted to remind voters to be sure to either request a ballot now to vote early, or to vote in person on Aug. 9. “Voting is critically important for democracy, and so is making sure that candidates have the opportunity to get the word out," she said.
The vandalism comes after the Waterbury Select Board last week discussed guidelines for placing campaign signs. The topic was raised by Kerrin who questioned finding signs along North Main Street recently. See that story from July 9 here.
Tyler Keefe, co-owner of Pack and Send Plus across the parking area from the welcome sign, picks up and stacks the signs on Friday morning. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti