Elect Butts? Wake candidate finds fake campaign signs ‘disrespectful.’

Fake campaign signs have popped up around parts of Wake County, grabbing attention from some local candidates.

Two different signs have been spotted in north Raleigh along Six Forks Road, including near the Optimist Community Center early voting location.

One says “Elect Butts. What do you have to lose?” and “A tootin good choice.”

Anothersays “These signs are dumb” with blue stars on it.

Kim Coley, a Republican candidate for the Wake County Commissioner District 4 seat, tweeted out a photo of one of the signs near her campaign sign and called it “unacceptable.”.

“I have the responsibility of following the law,” she tweeted. “Are unnamed bullies harassing candidates okay?”

She sent the tweet because she thought her signs were being targeted, but she said she has since seen them next to other candidates’ signs.

“It’s hard not to take it personal when there weren’t any other candidate signs around,” she said. The first-time candidate said campaign signs are a big part of how she’s getting her name out to the greater community.

Wake County Commissioner Greg Ford, a Democrat running to keep his District 6 seat, tweeted that he and his family ranked the “these signs are dumb” sign as the “best in show” on their way home from the fair this past weekend.

“’Tis the season for candidate yard signs,” he tweeted.” “Yes, our campaign has placed plenty of them as well. But after seeing 100s on the way home from the NC State Fair today, our family declared this sign ‘Best in Show.’”

Election signs of a certain size must state who is paying for them. The fake signs don’t have to follow those rules. But they are still prohibited from being in the no-campaigning area at early voting sites, said Wake County Election Director Gary Sims.

They don’t fall within the Wake County Elections Office jurisdiction but could be in violation of Raleigh’s sign ordinance, he said. Sims doesn’t know who put the signs up and hasn’t received any complaints about them.

“This is the first time we’ve seen anything like this,” he said. “We don’t know if it’s a political thing, a marketing campaign by someone or a personal thing.”

There’s no record of someone with the last name Butts running for an office in Wake County.

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Elect Butts? Wake candidate finds fake campaign signs ‘disrespectful.’."