A ballot box in Vancouver, Wa. was set on fire early Monday morning, destroying hundreds of ballots.

Erik Neumann/OPB

hide caption

change caption

Erik Neumann/OPB

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

Early Monday morning in Oregon, Portland police responded to a fire they said was started by “an incendiary device” at a ballot box. Oregon’s Multnomah County Elections Division said in a statement that three ballots were damaged. “Fire extinguishers in the ballot box protected virtually all ballots,” the statement said.

Hours later, another mailbox was set on fire in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where officials say “hundreds” of ballots were severely damaged when that box’s fire suppression system malfunctioned.

“The majority of the ballots have been completely destroyed and the remaining ballots are heavily damaged and very wet,” Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told NPR. He said his office is increasing the number of drop boxes so ballots don’t stay in the boxes for so long.

At a news conference, Portland police officials said they believed the two incidents were related.

“It’s heartbreaking. It is a direct attack on democracy,” said Kimsey, who has held the position for 26 years.

Law enforcement officials, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are still investigating in both Washington and Oregon, where election officials are asking voters who dropped off their ballots at these drop boxes this weekend to contact them so they can ensure they 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 that they could print replacement ballots or have one could release. personal.

U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat who represents Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, called on law enforcement officers to monitor mailboxes in the district. Gluesenkamp Perez faces a highly competitive race, winning her 2022 election by fewer than 3,000 votes. Her opponent, Republican Joe Kent, called the fire “a cowardly act of domestic terrorism.”

Last week, 35-year-old Dieter Klofkorn in Arizona told Phoenix police that he set fire to a USPS mailbox on October 24. “Klofkorn stated that he committed the arson because he wanted to be arrested and that his actions were not political. motivated and has nothing to do with the upcoming election,” Phoenix police said in a statement.

All three states rely heavily on absentee ballots, which are often returned through drop boxes or by mail. Ballot drop boxes have been the subject of conspiracy stories and false claims about their security since the 2020 election cycle, said Max Read, senior research manager for elections at the nonprofit Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which studies extremism and disinformation.

“There are a lot of misconceptions out there and quite frankly just lies about what security measures are in place, not just at the ballot boxes, but on the entire system of electoral votes and certification,” Read said. “Small-scale incidents such as these arsons can be used to support and strengthen these claims in the future.”

In September, the Department of Homeland Security said in an intelligence letter obtained through public records requests from the nonprofit government transparency group Property of the People that ballot drop boxes are being viewed 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 also occurred in previous election cycles. In 2020, about 100 ballots were damaged when a ballot box was set on fire in Los Angeles. That same month in Boston, dozens of ballots were damaged when a man who officials said appeared “emotionally disturbed” set fire to a mailbox near a public library.

Read says it’s important to remember that the mailboxes are often under video surveillance and in many places have fire extinguishing equipment.

“These mailboxes are well thought out and equipped with these measures. And people should not allow these isolated incidents to undermine their confidence in these voting methods, which are generally extremely secure,” Read said.

In total, hundreds of ballots were affected in the three incidents, mainly in Washington. Nearly three million votes were cast in Washington, Oregon and Arizona, according to data reported Monday afternoon by the University of Florida’s Election Lab.

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