Candidates for the Associated Students, Inc. elections must nowdig into their tightened campaign budgets to replace or fix theirstolen or defaced election boards.

Eleven signs for the ASI elections have been either stolen orvandalized since Thursday.

Executive Vice President Julio Velasquez’s slate, Action,discovered on Monday morning that two of their signs had been takenafter they had posted them on the Shasta Hall lawn Sunday night.Some of their signs had also been knocked down.

Graffiti was found spray-painted on nine of the Red slatecandidates’ signs in the Library Quad Thursday morning.

There are no suspects in either case, said Detective JohnHamrick of the University Police.

A spray paint can found in a nearby trash can next to thevandalized signs was booked into evidence at the office. Latentfingerprints on the can were later taken to the Department ofJustice for processing for comparisons with fingerprintdatabases.

The department could produce results within one week to a couplemonths, Hamrick said.

Velasquez said that his slate had started putting up their signsfrom about 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday night.

The police report for the stolen signs, which has not beencompleted, said that the timeframe of the crime was between 8 p.m.on April 11 and 7 a.m. on April 12, Hamrick said.

Hamrick said the vandalisms of the signs in the quad wasprobably done between 8 p.m. on April 7 to 9 a.m. the next day.

Phrases such as “Vote No!” and Greek letters andslogans belonging to Sigma Phi Epsilon, Alpha Phi Alpha and EpsilonSigma Rho were sprayed on different candidates’signs.

Luke Wood, incumbent candidate for vice president of finance onthe Red slate, said he contacted University Police around 9:30 a.m.on Thursday.

Wood, upon searching through trash cans nearby, discovered theblack spray paint can in the trash can by the Santa Clara Hall signthat was taken by the police.

“We went through all the garbage cans and we saw a spraypaint can with a black top. We left it until the officers came sothey could get the fingerprints on it,” Wood said.

“It was about half-full. You could even see on the canthat someone had gotten paint on their finger and got paint on thecan. So they did a sloppy job,” Wood said.

“The police said that if they find prints, they can matchit to a California driver’s license. They said they’dcall us if they found anything,” Red slate presidentialcandidate and brother Josh Wood said.

The current election code states that any repairs tovandalisms or replacement of stolen items must be counted towardsexpenses under current campaign expenditure limits. Recent coderevisions that prevent slate members from pooling funds leavedamages to be covered by each candidate.

“Everyone knows that budgets are tight. So anyonethat’s (damaging) something as expensive as this will hit ushard,” Luke Wood said. He said that this is the first time hehas seen any damage like this done during an ASI election, thoughone of his signs had been broken, before.

The signs have not been repainted and still remain in the quad.”We’re trying to figure out how to repaint them withthe budget. It will take a lot of paint, since we’re in redand white and the graffiti’s in black,” Wood said.

A 4 feet by 8 feet wood sign typically used by candidates costs$15, Wood said. The recent campaign limitations limit executivecandidates’ expenses to $100, while directorial candidates canspend only $50.

ASI President Peter Ucovich said that it’s unfortunatethat these incidents would ever happen to anyone running foroffice.

“It’s unfair for everyone involved, to the studentbody and those running for office,” Ucovich said.”People put time and effort into making these promotionalitems. It’s disturbing and sad to see that these things aregoing on so early in the election process.

While ASI cannot actively prosecute any offenders or investigatethe incident, individuals could seek retribution by filing electioncomplaints, Ucovich said.

The Election Complaint Committee, made up of faculty andstudents with no vested interest in the election process, willinvestigate substantiated complaints and can issue anything from averbal warning to a discharge of an elected candidate, Ucovichsaid.

Complaints can be filed from the start of the election to theFriday of election week.