Investigation Underway After Ballot Drop Boxes in Oregon and Washington Set on Fire [Video]

In the early hours of Monday morning, ballot drop boxes in Southeast Portland and Vancouver were set on fire, prompting local authorities to investigate. With the Nov. 5 general election just days away, police are working to determine if the two incidents are connected.

Portland police responded to reports of a fire around 3:30 a.m. at a ballot box on Southeast Morrison Street, where security personnel had already put out the flames. Police determined that an incendiary device had been used, and the device was safely removed by the Explosive Disposal Unit.

Later, a news crew in Vancouver spotted flames and smoke at a ballot box near the Fisher’s Landing Transit Depot. Vancouver police were on the scene and closed off part of the parking area to investigate, though public transit remained unaffected.

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey confirmed that hundreds of ballots were severely burned or destroyed in the Vancouver fire. Voters who submitted ballots at this location after 11 a.m. on Saturday are encouraged to contact the elections division for guidance. The deadline to register online or by mail in Washington is Oct. 28 at 8 p.m., with an in-person registration deadline on Nov. 5.

The incidents in Portland and Washington state come after last week, 35-year-old Dieter Klofkorn was arrested in Arizona in connection to a USPS mailbox fire where ballots burned.

Authorities are asking anyone with information on the Southeast Portland fire to contact Detective Meredith Hopper at [email protected] or call the Portland Fire & Rescue Fire Investigation Unit tip line at 503-823-3473, referencing case number 24-276181.