Ballots sitting inside drop boxes in Oregon and Washington were burned early Monday morning in suspected arson attacks.
Police said the two incidents are “very similar” to a third incident that took place in the area earlier this month.
“We don’t know the motive behind this — these — acts. It sounds like a series of three at this point,” officials with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said. “We do know that acts like this are targeted and intentional.”
In Portland, Oregon, police responded to an incendiary device that was ignited at around 3:30 a.m. Pacific time. Security personnel in the area had already extinguished the fire by the time responders arrived at the scene.
“I’ve been with Multnomah County Elections for 16 years. I’ve been in elections for 22 years. This is the first time any incident has occurred, as far as I’m aware, at the elections building or in any position I’ve ever held,” Tim Scott from the Multnomah County Elections Division office said.
The ballot drop box in Oregon has since been replaced.
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Just north of the Oregon border in Vancouver, Washington, officials responded to smoke coming out of a ballot drop box, in which hundreds of ballots were discovered to be burned at about 6:30 a.m. Pacific time.
The Clark County auditor told KATU the last ballot pickup at that location was 8 a.m. Sunday, which means hundreds of ballots were inside at the time of the fire. The county said there were likely only a few ballots that could be salvaged.
The ballot box in question is located at the Park and Ride at Fisher’s Landing Transit Center near Southeast 162nd Avenue in Vancouver. Voters who dropped off their ballots here after 8 a.m. Sunday are being told to contact the Election Auditor’s Office as soon as possible to receive a new ballot.
“We got a call that indicated one of the ballot boxes was smoking. We found a device there next to the ballot box,” Vancouver police officials said of the previous October incident. “Today’s incident was very similar.”
Voters who dropped off their ballots at this location are casting votes for one of the tightest House contests in the country this cycle. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), a centrist Democrat, is seeking reelection in the Republican-leaning district. She is running against Republican Joe Kent, whom she beat by fewer than 3,000 votes in 2022.
Following the incident, Gluesenkamp Perez condemned the actions and said voters cannot “yield to intimidation and must continue to stand up against unpatriotic acts.” She said the ballot drop boxes should have overnight security through Election Day.
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“Southwest Washington cannot risk a single vote being lost to arson and political violence,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
Vancouver and Portland are neighboring cities on opposite sides of the Columbia River. The Federal Bureau of Investigations is investigating all three incidents as arson attacks.
