Ballots set on fire in three states as Election Day approaches

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A ballot drop box in in Vancouver, Wash., was set ablaze early Monday morning, destroying hundreds of ballots. / OPB

In the final stretch before Election Day, ballots have been set on fire and damaged in two ballot drop boxes and a Postal Service mailbox in three states. Federal officials have warned that in recent months, some social media users have encouraged sabotage of ballot drop boxes.

Early on Monday morning in Oregon, Portland police responded to a fire they say was started by "an incendiary device" inside a ballot drop box. Oregon's Multnomah County Elections Division said in a statement that three ballots were damaged. "Fire suppressant inside the ballot box protected virtually all ballots," the statement read.

Hours later, another drop box was set on fire in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where officials say "hundreds" of ballots were badly damaged when that box's fire suppression system failed to work.

"The majority of the ballots are completely destroyed and the remaining ballots are severely damaged and very very wet," Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told NPR. He said his office is increasing the number of drop box retrievals so ballots don't sit in the boxes as long.

At a press conference, Portland police officials said they believed the two incidents are connected.

"It's heartbreaking. It's a direct attack on democracy," said Kimsey, who has held his position for 26 years.

Law enforcement including the Federal Bureau of Investigation is still investigating in both Washington and Oregon, where election officials are asking voters who dropped their ballots off at these drop boxes over the weekend to get in contact so they can be sure to vote.

In a statement, Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs denounced what he described as "acts of terror" and reminded voters that they could check online to see if their ballot had been marked as returned and would be able to print out replacement ballots or cast one in person.

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat who represents Washington's 3rd Congressional District, called for law enforcement officials to guard drop boxes in the district. Gluesenkamp Perez faces a highly competitive race and won her 2022 election by less than 3,000 votes. Her opponent, Republican Joe Kent, called the fire "a cowardly act of domestic terrorism."

Last week in Arizona, 35-year-old Dieter Klofkorn told Phoenix police that he had set fire to a USPS mailbox on Oct. 24. "Klofkorn stated that he committed the arson because he wanted to be arrested and that his actions were not politically motivated and not related to anything involving the upcoming election," the Phoenix Police Department said in a statement.

Oregon and Washington vote exclusively by mail and drop box while in Arizona, almost all voters cast ballots early that are returned the same way. Ballot drop boxes have been a subject of conspiracist narratives and false claims about their security since the 2020 election cycle, according to Max Read, a senior research manager for elections at the nonprofit Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which studies extremism and disinformation.

"There's a lot of misconceptions and frankly, just lies about what security measures are in place, not only on the ballot drop boxes, but on the whole system of election vote tabulation and certification," said Read. "Small-scale incidents like these arsons can be used to support and bolster those claims going forward."

In September, the Department of Homeland Security said in an intelligence brief, obtained through public records request by the nonprofit government transparency group Property of the People, that ballot drop boxes are seen as "soft targets" based on online discussions "on forums frequented by [domestic violent extremists] and other threat actors with election-related grievances."

The department wrote that similar online discussions occurred in previous election cycles as well. In 2020, about 100 ballots were damaged when a ballot drop box was set on fire in Los Angeles. That same month in Boston, dozens of ballots were damaged when a man officials said appeared "emotionally disturbed" set a drop box on fire near a public library.

Read says it's important to remember that drop boxes are often under video surveillance and in many places, feature fire suppressants.

"These drop boxes have been thought through and have these measures in place. And people should not allow these isolated incidents to undermine their trust in these voting methods, which are generally extremely secure," said Read.

In total, hundreds of ballots were affected in the three incidents, primarily in Washington. Across Washington, Oregon and Arizona, nearly three million votes have been cast, as of data reported Monday afternoon by the University of Florida's Election Lab.

NPR producer Audrey Nguyen and Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Dirk VanderHart contributed reporting to this story.