Hello, has it ever happened that packets of ballots like this have been set on fire? Can we fear a destabilization strategy with a view to challenging the results?
It refers to the fires that were observed at the polls in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington.
The Portland Police Bureau said officers and firefighters responded to a fire at a ballot box early Monday morning and determined that an incendiary device had been placed inside. Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said a fire extinguisher placed inside the box protected nearly all of the ballots; only three of them were damaged and his office planned to contact those voters to help them obtain replacement ballots.
A few hours later, across the Columbia in Vancouver, television crews filmed smoke billowing from an urn. Vancouver is at 3my congressional district in Washington state, where one of the closest congressional races in the country is expected to take place between Democratic Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez and her Republican opponent, Joe Kent.
Greg Kimsey, Clark County auditor in Vancouver, told The Associated Press that the Fisher’s Landing ballot box was also equipped with a fire suppression system, but it did not work. Firefighters removed a stack of burning ballots from inside the box, and Kimsey said hundreds of ballots were lost.
The last vote collection took place at 11 a.m. Saturday, Kimsey said. Anyone who submitted their ballot after that date was asked to contact the auditor’s office to obtain a new one. Kinsey also announced that the office will increase the frequency of ballot collection.
Despite the presence of fire extinguishers in each ballot box to prevent the destruction of ballots, incidents of this type had already occurred, especially in California in 2020. As you point out, misinformation and conspiracy theories about mailboxes and ballots Voting by mail has become a key part of the right’s efforts to discredit the election.
