VANCOUVER, Wash. — Police in Oregon say they have identified a “suspect vehicle,” after incendiary devices were dropped into ballot boxes.
The first fire happened around 3:30 a.m. in Portland, just down the street from the Multnomah County Elections office. Three ballots were damaged.
A half-hour later, Vancouver police were called to another fire where hundreds of ballots were damaged.
As you might guess, the people at King County Elections insist their ballot boxes, are safe. The boxes are made of reinforced steel and are emptied regularly.
They also have a way to stop a fire if one starts.
“When we get closer and closer,” said Jason Liu, Renton, “crazy things are going to happen.” That’s the reaction from one voter outside the King County Elections headquarters to the stunning sight of a ballot drop box in Vancouver, Washington, that someone had set alight Monday morning.
“I don’t know how you can correct or what you can do about it,” said Sharon Bennett from Renton. “But I think that’s pretty sad, especially here in the beginning of our election period, you know.”
“I think it’s scary for our voters,” said Kendall Hodson, King County Elections Chief of Staff. “It’s scary for our staff.”
However, Hodson says they have already accounted for illegal acts of voter sabotage like this.
“The really good news is that Washington State and King County is really well prepared for situations like this,” Hodson said.
That faith extends to the drop box itself: 1,000 pounds of steel, bolted into the ground, and a very small slot for ballots.
Not to mention, “They also have a fire stop inside,” Hodson said. “There are two of them. So, if anything goes into that drop box in King County, it’s going to have essentially a fire extinguisher response to make sure those flames are quelled, and we don’t lose any ballots.”
A Clark County Elections official tells me that they had a fire suppression system in their ballot boxes as well, but it “didn’t work as we expected.”
As it happens, tampering with a ballot drop box is considered a Class C felony in this state, punishable by five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both.
©2024 Cox Media Group
