Stealing campaign signs is a Chicago tradition steeped in machine politics

Editor’s note: This story first published March 14, 2024.

It was the middle of the night in 2007 when Ann Brekke was jolted out of a dead sleep. She heard some empty cans clinking around the front yard, then suddenly a car screeching away. The next morning, Brekke went outside and saw that, yet again, someone had stolen the political yard sign off her lawn.

Sign stealing and other campaign hijinks are par for the course for municipal elections in the Chicago area. Brekke and her family asked Curious City who’s behind what seems to be an election time tradition of stealing yard signs. This piece of Chicago's political history goes back more than 100 years, when the city was rebuilding after the Chicago Fire and saloon and brothel owners had great influence. While it’s not what it used to be, election shenanigans still happen today. Read the full story here and press play to listen.