Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
Two ballot boxes in the Pacific Northwest were lit on fire this past week. One was in Portland Oregon and the other in Vancouver Washington, police say the fires were caused by incendiary devices placed inside ballot boxes. After the fires were determined to have been arson the police asked the public for any tips regarding the perpetrator. According to The New York Times, several voters need replacement ballots. “He said that anybody who had deposited their ballot in that drop box after 11 a.m. on Saturday, when the box was last emptied, should contact the elections department to obtain a replacement.” In Phoenix last week a curbside collection box was set on fire and classified as arson.
The arsonist’s motivation was not political, instead, he just wanted to get arrested. According to The New York Times elections officials in Portland said that the fires triggered fire suppressants that protected almost all of the ballots in the box. Back in July The Department of Homeland Security had warned about incendiary devices in the ballot boxes in an intelligence report. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez called for an overnight police presence at all ballot boxes in Clark County Washington. An article by The Hill asserts that officials in Washington believe the first two incidents and a third in the Evergreen state may be connected. DHS has been on alert in the days leading to the election about ballot boxes being targets of violence at the hands of extremists. According to The Hill DHS has taken notice of social media users suggesting various ways to damage ballot boxes and not be caught for it. “‘Some social media users are discussing and encouraging various methods of sabotaging ballot drop boxes and avoiding detection, likely heightening the potential for targeting of this election infrastructure through the 2024 election cycle,’ the DHS concluded in a September memo.”
These incidents run the risk of shaking the confidence of voters in an already perilous election cycle. In a statement to The Hill Ben Berwick, counsel at the nonpartisan nonprofit Protect Democracy said that the population has been told election officials can not be trusted to count ballots and that elections have been stolen for years leading to distrust during elections. “‘When you tell the population repeatedly, over and over again for years, that the election has been stolen and that election officials can’t be trusted— that’s inevitably going to lead to distrust of our election system and the risk of violence,’”
The ballot box in the Portland fire was able to protect almost all of the ballots according to The Hill. Only three ballots were damaged and those voters were contacted for replacements. According to CNN Clark County Officials in a release on Wednesday said that some ballots were burned to ash and therefore unidentifiable. Other ballots were damaged to the extent of the voter who cast them not being able to be identified. State leaders continue to urge people to vote despite the fires. At this time the police have a vehicle and suspect description but no arrests have been made.
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