Allegations of stolen campaign signs and dirty tricks are nothing new in New Hampshire politics, but the arrival of Apple technology has taken a story in the Republican primary in the 2nd Congressional District to a new level.

Casey Crane, a candidate with a slim chance of winning the NH-02 primary, is demanding a full investigation into her opponent, Bill Hamlen, claiming that his campaign team tried to frame her for the billboard theft.

Both Crane and Hamlen are polling in the single digits, well behind Lincoln businessman Vikram Mansharamani and Weare activist Lily Tang Williams. But that hasn’t eased the tension in what’s shaping up to be a rematch between Crane, a former state legislator from Nashua, and Hamlen, a Hanover businessman running for the first time.

And according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, the Nashua Police Department is now also involved in the case.

According to Hamlen’s campaign team, the story began with frustration over the widespread theft of his campaign posters.

“Over the past few weeks, our yard signs have been vandalized and stolen,” said a Hamlen campaign spokesperson. “Our campaign placed AirTags in a sign to investigate. That sign was stolen and we have shared that information with local authorities.”

The Hamlen campaign team insists that the matter is now closed for them.

“Bill Hamlen is focused on securing the border, reducing costs, and protecting and preserving the New Hampshire way of life for the Second District,” the campaign said in a statement. They are leaving the sign issue to the Nashua Police Department.

This airtag allegedly led police to Crane’s neighborhood. And that, Crane said during a press conference last week, was no coincidence.

She says the airtag was installed as an attempt to defame her campaign and retaliate for Crane’s pointing out that Hamlen had recently become a registered Democrat.

“This is just about the fact that (Hamlen) is a Democrat and I outed him,” Crane said.

Even worse for a Republican primary candidate, Crane points out that Hamlen voted in the Democratic First in the Nation presidential primary in January, a fact Hamlen himself has acknowledged.

The animosity between the two candidates led to a confrontation at a barbecue on Aug. 17 at the Winchester VFW, Crane said.

That same day, a Hamlen employee went to the Nashua Police Department and reported that Crane had stolen a campaign sign from Hamlen, Crane claims.

“As soon as I said that, they did it,” Crane said.

Several Nashua police officers went to Crane’s home that same day to look for the sign. She claims the officers told her that not only had they received a report that she had stolen a plastic sign with the campaign bill, but that the Hamlen campaign had evidence. The Hamlen team attached an AirTag device to the sign and its signal indicated it was on their property, she said.

Theft of campaign signs is punishable by a $1,000 fine in New Hampshire. Crane claims that members of Hamlen’s team demonstrated an AirTag at the VFW BBQ and that they will be attaching it to all campaign signs.

But according to Crane’s neighbor James Down, whoever put up the Hamlen sign was at the wrong address. Days before police combed the neighborhood, his teenage son and his friend found an AirTag in the grass in the front yard, according to Down. Down took it, assuming it belonged to his brother. He told the NHJournal he had not seen a Hamlen campaign sign on his property.

When police searched for the stolen sign, Down was questioned as if he might have taken it.

“Why would I steal signs? I don’t run for nothing,” Down said. “Who would steal a sign? And who would drop a $24 GPS on a sign?”

Police did not find a Hamlen sign at Crane’s house or on her neighbors’ properties, Crane said. Now Crane wants Hamlen and his campaign team to be held accountable for the false police report.

Nashua police did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Assistant Attorney General James Boffetti said his office is in contact with Nashua officials about the incident.

“They have shared the information with us and we have reviewed their reports, but the case remains with the Nashua Police Department,” Boffetti said.

State records show Hamlen was a registered Democrat when he voted in the First in the Nation primary earlier this year. Hamlen says he cast a “protest vote” and is a longtime supporter of Donald Trump.

“I have donated to and voted for Donald Trump in the past, and I have donated to Donald Trump’s campaign again this year,” Hamlen said in a statement.

“I saw what the Democrats were doing, I saw how undemocratic their actions were, and I believed, like many Granite Staters, that Joe Biden was one of our worst presidents in history. Knowing that Donald Trump was sure to win the Republican primary, I decided to exercise my rights and cast a protest vote against Joe Biden by voting for (Robert K. Kennedy Jr.).”

Crane argues that even if the campaign were to place an airtag on a sign, what are the chances that this particular sign of the many campaign signs throughout the district would be stolen?

“It’s too much of a coincidence that all these Hamlen people were on our lawns and right after that an AirTag tracking device was found outside my house,” Down said in a statement. “In my opinion, this is a complete trap. There was never a tag on this AirTag. I know it was perfectly clean; I held it in my hand. There was no residue or tape. This tracker was never attached to a tag. In my opinion, they went to the wrong house with their dirty tricks and got caught.”

Airtag intrigue aside, political realities remain. None of the candidates in the race have broken out of the pack, and two recent polls show Mansharamani and Tang Williams as the only two candidates with double-digit support. The St. Anselm College Survey Center poll has the two tied at 16 percent, while the UNH Survey poll has Mansharamani in first place at 21 percent, followed by Tang Williams at 17 percent.

But that could all change. Campaign finance reports show that Hamlen, who already loaned his campaign $150,000, just added another $300,000. With so many undecided voters, that could make a difference in the next two weeks.

According to the Cook Political Report, the 2nd Congressional District is likely to remain Democratic.