Arson burns hundreds of ballots in a southwest Washington ballot box

The FBI is investigating an intentionally set fire that destroyed hundreds of ballots in a ballot drop box early Monday morning in Vancouver.

An hour earlier, police suspect a person driving a Volvo set a similar fire inside a drop box in Portland, damaging three ballots. Law enforcement believe the arsons in Vancouver and Portland to be connected, a Portland police spokesperson said Monday.

Hundreds of ruined and damaged ballots were pulled from the burned box in southwest Washington, officials said, and a replacement drop box was quickly installed in place of the ruined one at the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center in Vancouver.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said in a phone interview. “It’s a direct attack on democracy.”

The last time the Fisher’s Landing ballot box had been emptied by county elections officials was 11 a.m. Saturday. Anyone who dropped a ballot in the box Saturday or Sunday should contact the county elections office to request a replacement ballot, Kimsey said.

Vancouver is located in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where one of the most competitive congressional races in the country will be decided next week. Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is running for re-election against Republican Joe Kent. In 2022, Gleusenkamp Perez beat Kent by 2,629 votes.

The battle for the 3rd district Congressional seat this year is among a small number of key races across the country that are expected to decide which political party gains control of the House for the next two years.

Anyone who dropped a ballot in the Fisher’s Landing drop box on Saturday or Sunday can contact the Clark County Elections Office to request a replacement at clark.wa.gov/elections.need-replacement-ballot. Voters can also call (564) 397-2345 or email the elections office at elections@clark.wa.gov for help.

Voters across the state who have already cast their ballots can track the status of their ballot at voter.votewa.gov.

Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton said that although the arson incidents in Vancouver and Portland are heartbreaking, she’s not worried about elections security in Spokane.

“Our drop boxes are in pretty well-lit sites with a lot of traffic around them,” Dalton said.

On Monday, Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said his office takes safety seriously and has zero tolerance for threats or acts of violence against the elections process. The state will work to make sure all the voters affected by the drop-box arson get replacement ballots in time to participate in the Nov. 5 election.

“I strongly denounce any acts of terror that aim to disrupt lawful and fair elections in Washington state,” Hobbs said. “Despite this incident, I have complete confidence in our county elections official’s ability to keep Washington’s elections safe and secure for all voters.”

Washington State Republican Party Chairman Jim Walsh said the state’s vote-by-mail system increases the potential for election interference.

“Washington needs to get back to in-person, same-day voting,” Walsh said. “Our experiment with ‘100% mail-in-voting’ is not secure, because of the broken chain-of-custody issues inherent in mail-in voting. These arson attacks are proof of that.”

State Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad urged voters who used the Vancouver drop box or are otherwise concerned about their ballots’ whereabouts to use the state’s online ballot tracker.

“Washington state is proud to have one of the most secure elections systems in the country,” Conrad said. “We take the rights of every voter extremely seriously.

In a statement Monday, the League of Women Voters of Washington condemned the arson in Vancouver and called on political leaders in the state to speak out against the attack on democracy.

“All who support democracy must take a stand against this attempt to hinder voters’ sacred right to be heard at the ballot box,” reads the statement. “Political leadership in Clark County and across the state should likewise declare their support for the auditors and election officials who carry out their work in support of democracy, especially in these challenging times.”