Police are looking into how two ballot drop boxes caught fire on Monday in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington. According to the Associated Press, the fires destroyed hundreds of ballots and seem to have been intentionally set.
More Details On Ballot Boxes Fires
The Portland Police Bureau reported that officers and firefighters responded to a fire in one drop box at about 3:30 a.m. They later determined that an unnamed suspect had placed an incendiary device inside. However, Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said a fire suppressant inside the drop box protected nearly all the ballots. Only three ballots sustained damage, and Scott says his office will contact the voters for replacement ballots.
A few hours later, in Vancouver, television crews captured footage of smoke pouring out of a ballot box at a transit center. Vancouver is in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. Per AP, the site is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.
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Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey in Vancouver told The Associated Press that the ballot drop box at the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center also had a fire suppression system inside. But, for some reason, it wasn’t effective. Responders pulled a burning pile of ballots from inside the box.
Kimsey confirmed that the fire destroyed hundreds of votes. The last pickup at the transit center drop box happened at 11 a.m. this past Saturday. Kimsey said their office is urging anyone who dropped their ballot off after the fire to contact the auditor’s office to obtain a new one.
“Heartbreaking,” Kimsey said. “It’s a direct attack on democracy.”
In response to the ballot box fires, Kimsey’s office will increase the frequency of its ballot box collection and change collection times to the evening. This way, should similar crimes happen, the ballot boxes won’t remain full overnight.
Another Explosive Found Near A Drop Off Box
Earlier this month, on Oct. 8, officials recovered another incendiary device on or near a ballot drop box in downtown Vancouver. It did not damage the box or destroy any ballots, police said. The FBI and other agencies have been investigating, but no updates on the case yet.
For context, Washington and Oregon are both vote-by-mail states. Registered voters receive their ballots in the mail a few weeks before elections and then return them by mail or by placing them in ballot drop boxes.
This isn’t only happening in Washington and Oregon. Apparently, in Phoenix last week, officials said a fire destroyed roughly five ballots and damaged others at a U.S. Postal Service station there. Police say the fire was also intentionally set.
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Associated Press reporter Gene Johnson contributed to this report.
