No matter what their political persuasions, all Southland candidates can agree that hoarding vandalisation is not only disappointing but downright unnecessary. 

Across the region, no party has been exempt from having their hoardings damaged. Some have been drawn on, ripped down, attacked, run over by a car or even stolen.

Even though it is widely accepted as a fact of every election, that there will be a select few who will vent their frustrations by resorting to crime, candidates say it's still disappointing to see it happen.

The cost of the hoardings varies, ranging anywhere from $35 to $260 each depending on the size and where they have been printed.

On top of that, there are the costs of wood and nails to fix the hoardings to as well as the time, labour and petrol costs to put them up all around the region. 

Southland Candidate for The Opportunities Party Joel Rowlands said he had so far spent $11,000 out of his own back pocket to fund his campaign. 

Mr Rowlands said TOP is "a party for the people by the people," so it has a smaller budget to spend on advertising compared with larger parties. 

He said most of his money has gone into printing and putting up his 30 hoardings and he's had about five damaged around the region so far. 

"After a weekend of driving around Southland putting them all up, the first thing I saw when I got back into Queenstown was my big sign completely smashed," he said. 

Mr Rowlands is currently on ACC and is awaiting surgery next month to help his wrist which has a broken bone in it. 

"I have had to put up every single hoarding myself with a broken bone in my hand," he said. 

"Every time I see one of these hoardings knocked down it's like here we go again."

"I have $1500 left, which will be used for 'Meet the Candidate' events and making promotional videos [for social media]," he said. 

But Mr Rowlands is passionate about his party’s policies, which is why he said doesn't give up and is happy to front much of the cost himself. 

He said he was really trying to connect with younger voters, so he hoped the social media videos would gain some traction with a younger audience online.

"I want to get young people enrolled and voting and engaged in democracy," he said. 

Political parties fund their own campaigns and the limit that each party can spend on advertising is set by the Electoral Commission. 

National candidate for Southland Joseph Mooney said his team had also had to repair several hoardings around the region, which "is a shame but it happens every election". 

"The great thing about a democracy is that people have different ideas," he said.

"We need discussion, but attacking hoardings isn't going to achieve anything."

Southland Labour candidate Jon Mitchell has had six hoardings damaged throughout Queenstown, Te Anau and Alexandra and has spent about $500 so far on fixing them. 

"It's frustrating. People put their heart and soul into this because they want to make a difference," he said. 

Mr Mitchell said his hoarding in Alexandra had been damaged "numerous times," which he said was sad as it sat right next to the Gallipoli war memorial. 

"My Grandfather fought in Gallipoli," he said. 

"These men and women fought for us to be able to have a democracy... so it's disappointing that the [hoardings] are vandalised."

He said he hoped that people would instead use their voice to vote rather than deface other people's property. 

Southland Green Party candidate David Kennedy said his party’s billboard teams had put up about 30 hoardings around Invercargill and Southland, with more going up at a later stage in the campaign. 

"The billboards cost us about $32 each and we have had five damaged so far. It has cost us about $160 to replace them," he said.

However, Mr Kennedy said where hoarding vandalisation was frustrating, the Green Party was now focussing on putting a larger emphasis on face-to-face campaigning such as engaging in community meet and greets. He said he personally felt this was a more effective way of campaigning and spreading awareness on their policies.