Ballot boxes were set on fire in two US states with just over a week until the 2024 election.
Incendiary devices were used to burn early voting ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in Vancouver, Washington, on Monday.
A blaze was discovered at a drop box in Portland early in the morning. It was put out rapidly due to a suppression system inside the container and a security guard rapidly responding to the scene. Only three of the ballots inside were damaged.
Several hours later, a drop box at a transit center across the Columbia River in Vancouver was found ablaze. That box also contained a suppression system but hundreds of ballots were still burned, according to Greg Kimsey, the auditor in Clark County, Washington state.
‘It’s a direct attack on democracy,’ said Kimsey, adding that it was ‘heartbreaking’.
He called on voters who left there ballots there after 11am on Saturday to seek replacements from his office.
The burning incidents happened as the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and ex-President Donald Trump for the White House, and some House and Senate contests, are neck-and-neck.
Vancouver is the largest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where Democratic Rep Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent are facing off in what is forecast to be one of the closest competitions for a House seat.
Suppression systems inside the drop boxes were designed to activate at a certain high temperature and cover the ballots with a powder that protects them from fire.
It was not immediately known why the system largely failed in the Vancouver case.
CCTV images in Portland showed a Volvo vehicle going up to the drop box shortly before the security guard responded to the fire. Incendiary devices were placed outside of the boxes, said Portland Police Bureau spokesman Mike Benner. The FBI is investigating the incidents.
Republicans have pushed conspiracy theories without evidence around ballot drop boxes, particularly after unfounded Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Tensions around the election are at a high, with Democrats and Republicans making the final pushes for Harris and Trump, respectively.
Trump went into Democratic stronghold New York City on Sunday and filled Madison Square Garden with around 20,000 of his supporters cheering him on in the rally in his hometown.
On Monday, Trump joined a summit by the National Faith Advisory Board in Atlanta, where a group of Christian leaders put their hands on him and prayed that he be elected once again. The scene was eerily similar to Latino voters praying for him last week in Florida.
Meanwhile, Harris was introduced by superstar singer-songwriter Beyoncé at a Houston rally on Friday, and on Sunday received the support of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny.
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