Where Did the Signs Go?
Election Season Brings Familiar Mystery
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Links Pub.
BAR HARBOR—Every year campaign signs go missing on Mount Desert Island.
Sometimes a storm takes them. Sometimes they are stolen. Sometimes the signs violate the rules that govern their placement, which means that they could get removed by the town they are in.
Campaign signs have gone missing again in Bar Harbor. On Friday, social media posts started talking about one candidate’s signs being stolen. Those posts were quickly shared.
Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Chief David Kerns reported that on Friday one candidate reported that their signs were no longer where they’d been placed. That candidate’s signs are missing in three locations and likely went missing within the last few days. He just wanted the police department to have that information and was not filing an official complaint.
However, that candidate isn’t the only one who has had signs go missing.
In that same race, another candidate is missing seven signs. She has not reported it to police.
In a different council race, another candidate has said he has had multiple signs go missing. He has not reported it.
Another councilor in a third race said that she has also had her signs taken. She has not reported that to police.
Four other council candidates said Friday afternoon that they hadn’t noticed any of their signs missing. Two have had that occur in the past.
While the town’s code enforcement officer Michael Gurtler can take down signs that may be in violation of town codes because of their placements, he has not, both he and Chief Kerns confirmed.
“I have not removed any campaign signs,” Gurtler said.
The only sign Gurtler has touched, Chief Kerns said, was to stick one back into the ground after it had fallen over.
“Signs go missing but it’s not necessarily that they’ve been stolen,” Chief Kerns said Friday.
Weather can also play a role for signs.
During the last election cycle in October 2024, in one week there were at least four signs that went missing in Bar Harbor and Mount Desert and “multiple” reports in Southwest Harbor of missing signs.
According to a 2022 NPR article by Scott Neuman, a 2015 study “led by Donald Green, a political science professor at Columbia University, found that political signs can in fact make a difference—‘somewhere between 1 and 2 percentage points on average,’ Green says.”
This small of a difference could only be a deciding factor in an extremely close race.
According to Maine Statute, title 23, chapter 21, section 1917-A, the penalty for removing signs from an area that is a public right-of-way, which is a civil violation, is $250. Removing a sign from someone’s private property is the crime of theft, most likely class E, and if the accused was found guilty, could result in a penalty of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
This article was updated at 7:14 p.m. to include another councilor candidate’s response.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Rick Osann Art.
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All our election coverage is on this tab.
This next article also discusses warrant information:
Town Election: Election of officers, votes on Land Use Ordinance Amendments
June 10, 2025
Polling Place: Municipal Building Auditorium
Poll Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The following offices will be elected by the voters at the June 10, 2025 Town Election:
Bar Harbor Town Council Two seats – Three-year term, one seat - Two-year term, and one seat - One-year term
Superintending School Committee Two seats – Three-year term
MDI High School Trustee One seat – Three-year term and one seat - One-year term
Warrant Committee Five seats – Three-year term and one seat - Two-year term
Nomination papers will be available in the Town Clerk’s office beginning Monday, March 3. Deadline for filing nomination papers with the Town Clerk is Friday, April 11, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Call 207-288-4098 for more information.
Write-in candidates: Any qualified resident interested in being considered a write-in candidate for the town election must file a declaration of write-in candidacy with the Town Clerk on or before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 6. The candidate must meet all the other qualifications for the office, and must receive a minimum of 25 votes to be elected.
The information page prepared by the town's code enforcement office about sign rules.
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