A ballot box in Washington state, used for collecting early votes for the upcoming U.S. election on November 5, caught fire on Monday in what police believe was an act of arson. The FBI is now looking into the incident.
Video from KATU, a local news station, showed smoke rising from the ballot box in Vancouver, Washington, with many ballots inside burning. Officials reported that the box hadn’t been emptied since 8 a.m. on Sunday, which means hundreds of ballots were destroyed.
The Vancouver Police Department responded to the fire at 4 a.m. on Monday and found a “suspicious device” next to the ballot box.
In response to the situation, the Washington secretary of state advised voters to check the status of their ballots online and to request a new one if theirs was missing. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs strongly condemned any acts that threaten fair elections in Washington, stating his confidence in the ability of local election officials to keep the elections safe.
This ballot box was located in a competitive area for the U.S. House of Representatives, where Democratic Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is running against Republican challenger Joe Kent.
This incident is part of a troubling trend, as there have been other attacks on ballot boxes. For example, police in Portland, Oregon, responded to a similar fire at a ballot box caused by an incendiary device on the same morning. Thankfully, only three ballots were damaged because of a fire suppressant inside the box, and those voters will be contacted to get new ballots.
In another incident in Phoenix, a man was arrested after setting a mailbox on fire, destroying about 20 ballots.
