A woman who set up a pop-up shop selling political signs had the ultimate response to a neighbor who complained.
Nikki Sapiro Vinckier, from the swing state of Michigan, designed and professionally printed signs showing support for Vice President Kamala Harris after President Joe Biden exited the presidential race and endorsed her as the Democratic Party's 2024 nominee.
Sapiro Vinckier, 35, set up an honor store on her lawn, allowing people to take a sign and leave money. She planned to donate the profits from the hot pink signs, which feature a reproductive rights symbol, to Harris' campaign fund.
But, she told Newsweek, "less than 24 hours later, a neighbor had put [a] folder in my mailbox."
In a video shared to her TikTok account @nikkivinck on July 28, Sapiro Vinckier showed a huge blue folder sticking out of her mailbox, some of its hundreds of pages highlighted.
One highlighted section stated that only one sign was allowed per residence, so Sapiro Vinckier took action: She tied a string around each of the signs in her yard and connected them, technically making them one sign.
And that wasn't all. Sapiro Vinckier told Newsweek she contacted the mayor of Birmingham, Michigan, who told her there are "no restrictions" on the number of political signs you can have on your lawn due to freedom of speech.
Newsweek spoke to Birmingham City Manager Jana Ecker, who confirmed multiple political signs are allowed on your own property as long as they are removed after the date of the election, which, this year, is November 5.
The local code enforcement, who were contacted by the same neighbor, also came to Sapiro Vinckier's home, saw the multiple signs, and confirmed the same.
So, able to keep her signs, Sapiro Vinckier—who had sold all 25 at this point—ordered 200 more.
She also left a note to the neighbor on her lawn, which she shared in a video update. The note sweetly thanked them for their "concern," calling it a "beautiful virtue," and warned them against putting anything else in her mailbox.
Her clip showing her creation of the giant sign has had a huge response, with over 12,000 likes and almost 220,000 views. One user joked, "It doesn't say how big it can be. Glue them together and make a mega sign!"
Another suggested: "Technically, it is one type of sign. They didn't specify it had to be numerically one sign."
And one agreed: "It is 1 sign! Just a bunch of them!"
Sapiro Vinckier said she feels "very good" about the huge reaction, explaining that, as an OBGYN physician assistant, "reproductive rights are incredibly important to me."
"It is obvious that reproductive rights are going to play a central role in this upcoming election, and I wanted to feature that concept with the lawn sign design," she said.
At the same time, she said, "politics has gotten so volatile lately," and she wanted her video to be "lighthearted and playful."
"I have several family members who are Republicans and will not be voting for Kamala, and when they've watched the videos, they responded that they thought they were funny and witty," she said.
"They were not offended. That was what I was going for, and the support has been lovely."
Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the race on July 21. She and her yet-to-be-named running mate are set to take on former President Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
There has been much speculation about who Harris could choose as her running mate. An announcement is expected this week.
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