Every election they spring from the ground overnight, like colorful weeds. Though they can be a bit of an eyesore, campaign signs are a key part of many candidates’ strategy.

But, that part is costly and vulnerable.

Signs don’t come cheap and stuck out by themselves in a yard, they can make easy late-night targets for vandals or overzealous supporters of other candidates.

While the Selma City Council discussed the removal of signs in public places on Monday, some candidates have found signs missing from private property.

“People are going around at night and pulling up my signs,” Ward 7 candidate Lola Sewell said. “It is against the law to pull up a candidate’s sign.”

Sewell said the signs that have come up missing have been on private property and should have been left alone.

“Those signs are expensive, those signs cost money,” she said. “”I’ve had about 15 signs so far to be pulled up.”

Other candidates have had similar problems.

“As a matter of fact they say there’s a dock down on the Alabama River if you want to find Salaam signs, you can find gobs of them,” State Representative and mayoral candidate Yusef Salaam said. “I’ve been severely victimized.”

Fellow mayoral candidate Gene Hisel also has had signs come up missing, but says it’s just part of running in a contested election.

“It’s just one of the fallacies of the system,” he said. “People feel very strongly about their candidate

and sometimes people take that opportunity (to steal signs). Thank goodness signs don’t vote.”

The City Council discussed signs on city property as well as on trees and telephone poles that violate the law, but Sewell stresses her missing signs have been well into the yards of her supporters.

“This is ridiculous, if people want to advertise for you so be it,” she said. “I have my signs in good locations. The people want my signs in their Salaam said he will the missing signs as another motivation. He added that defacing or removing an opponent’s signs is not tolerable.

“It’s going to motivate me to have a coalition-type victory like Bob Armstrong did last night,” he said.

“Anybody who works in my campaign knows they would be automatically run away if they ever get caught pulling up signs.”

Sewell said she will offer a reward for information that leads to the arrest of someone stealing her signs.

“I’m not pulling up anybody else’s signs, I don’t have the time or the energy,” she said, “but I’d like for mine to stay where they are.”