Some Columbia campaign signs hit with spray paint

Some large campaign signs in east Columbia bear a pink “NO” across the bottom.

Signs for Tom Leuther, a candidate for the city council’s Third Ward spot, were vandalized with the spray paint, some along Old Highway 63, another near the Casey’s General Store on Clark Lane. Columbia police said they also took a vandalism report for a Leuther sign on Monday at St. Charles Road and Keene Street.

Missouri election law lists at least 48 ways to get in trouble by tampering with the election itself, or people campaigning. State law punishes people caught for defacing another person’s campaign sign as a “class four” offense, considered a misdemeanor. It carries a maximum penalty of of one year imprisonment and a fine of $2,500. Higher offenses, class one and two, are considered felonies.

The law does allow people to alter signs on their own property.