Ballot drop box fires in Oregon and Washington are likely connected, officials say

Ballot drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and neighboring Vancouver, Washington, were set on fire Monday morning in what authorities believe are connected incidents about a week out from Election Day.

An identical Volvo was spotted at both scenes, and the use of an "incendiary device" in Portland was "similar in nature" to what occurred in Vancouver, the cities' police departments said. Portland police described the act as targeted and intentional.

Three ballots were damaged in Portland, while potentially “hundreds” were affected in Vancouver, local officials said.

The Portland Police Bureau said an "incendiary device" was placed inside a sidewalk ballot box in the Central City district. By the time officers responded to reports about 3:30 a.m., security personnel in the area had extinguished the flames.

"Officers determined an incendiary device was placed inside the ballot box and used to ignite the fire," Portland police said in a statement, adding that the bureau's Explosive Disposal Unit removed the mechanism.

Portland police were continuing to investigate. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said it would step up patrols around ballot drop boxes in the county.

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The Multnomah County Elections Division said in a statement that "fire suppressant inside the ballot box protected virtually all the ballots."

"Voters should be assured that even if their ballots were in the affected box, their votes will be counted," the statement read.

Around 4 a.m., about a half-hour after the reported fire in Portland, police in Vancouver responded to a ballot box fire.

Flames and smoke could be seen coming from the box near the Fisher's Landing Transit Depot, NBC affiliate KGW of Portland reported.

Vancouver police said officers arrived to smoke and flames and fond a "suspicious device" next to the box. The fire was put out, and the city's Metro Explosive Disposal Unit collected the device.

The FBI was investigating, and no further details were immediately available, Vancouver police said.

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said potentially "hundreds" of ballots could be damaged. He added people who placed ballots in the box after 11 a.m. Saturday should contact the office to confirm the status of their ballots.

Shasti Conrad, the chair of the Washington Democratic Party, said she expects Kimsey and law enforcement to "find those responsible and hold them accountable."

Authorities have not ascribed a motive. The incidents come as election officials across the country have said they are on high alert. For many localities, once-routine election business has become a security challenge, with some adding law enforcement resources and even drones and bulletproof vests out of concerns that extremists inspired by conspiracy theories could seek to disrupt voting or vote counting.

The Vancouver bomb squad responded this month to reports of a "suspicious device" near a downtown ballot box, police said. The device was "safely removed," and the ballot box itself was "not compromised," the city said in a news release.

Vancouver is in Washington's 3rd Congressional District, where Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez faces Donald Trump-backed Republican challenger Joe Kent in a highly competitive House race.

Gluesenkamp Perez said she has requested an overnight law enforcement presence at all ballot drop boxes in Clark County through Election Day.

"Southwest Washington cannot risk a single vote being lost to arson and political violence," she said in a statement Monday.

Kent said on X he is confident authorities will "stop whoever attacked our democratic process."

"Stay focused on driving voter turn out & early voting, don’t be deterred from voting by a cowardly act of terrorism," he wrote.

Several ballots were also damaged in Phoenix last week after a U.S. Postal Service mailbox was set on fire. Police arrested a suspect, who they said admitted committing arson but said the incident was not politically motivated.