PUYALLUP, Wash. — The Puyallup company, Laserfab, built the ballot box in Portland that was set ablaze. They tell us they’ve taken several steps to protect your vote. But with one week to election day, concerns are growing.
Now the secretary of state is working throughout the state to make sure ballot drop boxes are safe and secure.
As you might guess, those fires sent shockwaves through every election official in this state and beyond.
What likely made the difference, especially in Portland, was the ballot box itself and a fire suppression system. We saw both, firsthand.
“This is one of our boxes,” said the vice president of Laserfab.
Larry Olson invited us inside the Puyallup factory where they have made ballot drop boxes since Pierce County elections officials approached them some 15 years ago.
“We’ve got almost 1200 boxes nationwide,” Olson said.
One of those boxes was set on fire Monday morning in Portland, Oregon.
“And I talked to the Portland people this morning,” Olson said. “And because of the design and because of their suppression system, they only had three ballots damaged out of like 412 that were in the box.”
They weren’t as lucky in Vancouver. Their box was made by a different company. But elections officials tell us their fire suppression system did not work as expected.
Olson showed us what the system might look like and where it might be placed.
“This is a pretty simple fire stop suppression system that when it senses fire, it will spray a retardant down onto the ballots or down onto whatever’s below it,” he said.
The fires alarmed voters.
“I think it’s horrible,” said Barbara Schafer of Seattle. “And that’s one of the reasons I came here is to make sure my ballot wasn’t ruined, somehow, in the mailbox.”
“Absolutely heartbreaking to see some of the images that were coming out of Vancouver,” said the Secretary of State’s Elections Director.
Stuart Holmes said Clark County will increase dropbox pickups and its temporary staffing to fulfill the oath all elections officials take.
“It is our duty to ensure that we have fair, secure and accessible elections,” Holmes said.
His office would not tell us which jurisdictions have fire suppressants in their ballot drop boxes, but he said all of them are taking steps to make sure each vote that ends up here is safe and counted.
©2024 Cox Media Group
