Ballot Box Fires Spark Security Alert Across Pacific Northwest as Incendiary Devices Destroy Hundreds of Votes in Portland, Vancouver, and Arizona; Multi-State Investigation Underway

Multiple ballot drop boxes have been set ablaze in the Pacific Northwest and Arizona, igniting a multi-state investigation involving federal and local law enforcement authorities. The coordinated actions with incendiary devices resulted in the burning of hundreds of ballots, raising severe concerns about the security of mail-in and drop-off voting systems. This worrisome wave of vote box tampering occurs at a time when increased vigilance over election security is critical, and officials in Washington, Oregon, and Arizona are working to determine the source and purpose of these coordinated operations.

The most recent incident happened early Monday morning in Portland, Oregon, when police reacted to allegations of a fire at a ballot drop box in the 1000 block of Southeast Morrison Street. By the time police enforcement arrived, security guards had already extinguished the fire. An initial inquiry found that an incendiary device had been placed inside the vote box, causing a fire and partially destroying its contents. The Portland Police Bureau brought in the Explosive Disposal Unit to securely analyze and clear the device, raising worries that this act was part of a larger strategy to undermine public trust in the electoral process.

In Vancouver, Washington, a similar attack occurred at the same time on Monday morning at the C-TRAN Park & Ride at Fisher’s Landing Transit Centre. Witnesses reported seeing a device put near the vote box, which rapidly started a fire that consumed the entire box. Preliminary reports from election officials suggested that hundreds of ballots had been destroyed. As with the Portland incident, local officials are collaborating with federal investigators to investigate the occurrence, and both instances are being handled with extreme haste due to the ramifications for voter disenfranchisement and election security.

The alarming pattern goes beyond the Pacific Northwest. A similar event occurred less than a week earlier in Arizona, when a vote box outside a post office near 7th Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix was set on fire in the early hours of October 24. The Phoenix Fire Department firefighters were able to put out the fire, which had destroyed twenty electoral ballots and other pieces of mail. Following the incident, the Postal Inspector’s Office took possession of the damaged ballots, and the Phoenix Fire Investigations Task Force, a specialized team of Phoenix Police detectives and fire investigators, collaborated with US Postal Inspectors to investigate the cause and intent of the fire.