CASPER, Wyo. — A handful of candidates for public office in Casper have had their signs repeatedly stolen, according to local political figures. The signs sometimes end up in a nearby ditch, or disappear altogether.

“I’ve never seen any of them again,” said Casper City Councilor Lisa Engebretsen, who is running for reelection this Nov. 5. She told Oil City News last week that over a hundred of her signs have disappeared, including five or six times from one location.

Engebretsen said it’s been particularly bad since the primary election on Aug. 20.  She has been working with the Casper Police Department and the crimes of theft and trespassing are clearly at play, she said.

Kim Walker, the state committeewoman of the Natrona County Republican Party, named other City Council candidates and a state representative candidate who have been similarly affected. She said for one candidate, she found the signs in an alley near where they’d been put up.

“I can’t tell you the last time it was this bad,” Walker said, adding that many of the signs were secured with zip ties.

“It’s odd how certain candidates are not having their signs taken at all,” Engebretsen said. She added that she’s been the target of constant online mudslinging in some groups, but nobody ever calls or engages her personally on those issues. “I feel like before they label me, someone should talk to me,” she said.

Engebretsen was unsure why the perpetrator is resorting to these measures. “Politics has been gotten ugly on the local level. We’re in a bizarre world at the moment,” she said.

“I think it’s desperation,” Walker said.

Oil City News LLC is a nonpartisan media organization and Central Wyoming’s largest locally owned, independent news platform. The mission of Oil City’s award-winning team of Casper-based journalists is to build a more informed and connected community by producing local stories first, fast and forever free. If you would like to read the original article, click here.

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