A few signs appear to have been taken down and tossed in some bushes at Ashburn Elementary School, where voters in the Russell Branch precinct cast their ballots.

Political candidates rely on signs to get their message out and inevariably many disappear each campaign season. Loudoun maintains tighter restrictions on campaign signs than many counties, although a volunteer program to remove signs illegally placed in Virginia Department of Transportation rights of way was eliminated this year.

About a decade ago, two men nearly came to blows along the median of Route 7 over campaign signs related to a supervisors race in Loudoun.

But overall, according Phil Lo Presti, a long-time Democratic activist in Ashburn, people are respectful of campaign signs.

"We've really rarely had problems," he said, adding that there were a few incidents in 2008 and that he'd heard about signs disappearing from residents yards this year.

This time, the signs were for Democrats running for office, while earlier this year, someone burned a Romney sign a supporter had erected in their yard in Leesburg, according to a story on the WTOP website.