A man putting a ballot in a ballot box. Image via Flickr, PDM 1.0
Vancouver and Portland
On October 28, 2024, an “incendiary device” caused a fire in a ballot box in Vancouver, Washington that damaged hundreds of ballots. Five miles away, another device was placed in Portland, Oregon, an hour before. It is believed that these both are connected to an attempt that happened on October 8. All three of these devices had the words “Free Gaza” written on them.
The ballot box from the Vancouver fire was near the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center, while the Portland fire was outside the Multnomah County Elections Division office. The Vancouver ballot box contained hundreds of ballots that had been there since 11 am on October 26.
The FBI is conducting a “separate but parallel” investigation of the fires. They are also
collaborating with Vancouver and Portland police, as well as the Multnomah County Sheriff’s office. This is the second time in three weeks that an incendiary device has caused a fire inside a ballot box. In downtown Vancouver there was a similar device, however, there were not ballots at that location, because people had not yet mailed ballots. The person who planted these devices will face potential charges of unlawful use of a weapon, obstructing governmental or judicial administration and illegal acts relating to voting machines or vote tally systems.
Why?
The reason behind the fires is unknown because people can not tell if they are apart of a Pro-Palestine movement, or if they belong to a different scheme. A speculated reason for the fires is the representative race between Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Joe Kent, who are partaking in a rematch from 2022 to represent the 3rd District in Washington. The 3rd District covers most of Southwest Washington, including Lewis, Pacific, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark and Skamania counties, as well as a small portion of Thurston County. The Fisher’s Landing Transit Center location happens to be in a Democratic stronghold in the 3rd District. Gluesenkamp Perez beat Kent by 2,629 votes across the entire district in 2022, although she led by 22,187 votes in Clark County, which contains Vancouver and borders Portland.
Ballots at Risk
This summer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security analysts issued reports warning law enforcement agencies of a “heightened risk” of attacks on ballot drop off boxes during the 2024 presidential election. In Arizona, Phoenix, police arrested a man in connection with a postal box fire that had damaged mail-in ballots this election year. In 2020, vehicles hit a few ballot boxes. Arson was the damage cause for few boxes in Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California.
Both Gluesenkamp Perez and Kent have taken some sort of action to ensure voters that it is safe to vote at these ballot boxes. Gluesenkamp Perez requested “overnight law enforcement presence,” at all ballot boxes in Clark County on Election Day, which was November 5. Kent shared a video on October 28, using the social media platform X, informing those who did not feel comfortable using a ballot box to drop their votes off at the auditor’s office near downtown Vancouver.
No one should be intimidated, this should not deter anyone from voting,
Kent said in the video.
