Dozens of ballots in a Boston ballot box were destroyed after a man allegedly set the dropbox on fire on Sunday.
The Boston Police Department arrested 39-year-old Worldy Armand in connection with the fire on Sunday night after sharing photographs of a person in seeking the public’s help to identify a suspect in an arson investigation. Armand was taken into custody by officers on patrol after they positively identified him. Police said Armand, who concurrently had a warrant for his arrest for receiving stolen property, is expected to be “arraigned in Boston Municipal Court on the charge of Willful and Malicious Burning.”
The Boston Election Department said the dropbox contained 122 ballots, 87 of which “were legible and able to be processed,” but 35 ballots were too damaged from the fire to be processed.
“The City will mail a new ballot to all those voters whose ballots were identified as being in the Copley Square dropbox at that time. If those voters do not recast ballots, the City will hand count the ballots recovered from the box,” the department said on social media.
Police said firefighters arrived at the scene as the fire broke out but were unable to ascertain if the fire was inside the dropbox.
“Eventually, crews were able to extinguish the fire by filling the ballot box with water,” the police department said.
In a joint statement, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said the crime was a “disgrace to democracy.”
“What happened in the early hours of this morning to the ballot dropbox in Copley Square is a disgrace to democracy, a disrespect to the voters fulfilling their civic duty, and a crime. Our first and foremost priority is maintaining the integrity of our elections process and ensuring transparency and trust with our voters, and an effort to undermine or tamper with that process must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement read. “We ask voters not to be intimidated by this bad act, and remain committed to make their voices heard in this and every election.”
The FBI is also investigating the fire. U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling and FBI Special Agent in Charge Joe Bonavolonta released a statement, saying it is “a top priority of our offices to help maintain the integrity of the election process in Massachusetts by aggressively enforcing federal election laws.”
