Ballot Drop Box Arson in Washington Being Investigated by FBI

A ballot box was burned in an arson on Monday according to local police in Vancouver, Washington, and KATU was on site providing video of authorities putting it out.

The Clark County elections auditor told KATU that the last time ballots were picked up at this drop box was at 11 a.m. Saturday, and hundreds of ballots were inside of it when they discovered it on fire this morning. Clark County is telling voters that if they dropped off their ballot after 11 a.m. Saturday at that location, that they will need to contact the Election Auditor’s Office “IMMEDIATELY for a new ballot,” and you can do so here.

The Vancouver Police said that this was actually the second incident at a ballot box today, as they found an incendiary device at another location. They said that the investigation is being fully handed over to the FBI, and until they conclude it, we likely will not know all that happened here.

But we do know that this was significant. As Senior Editor & Elections Analyst of Cook Political Report, Dave Wasserman noted, in 2022, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez only beat her Republican challenger Joe Kent by 2,629 votes in this district, and the match remains a toss up per Cook Political’s ratings. Both sides will no doubt blame the other’s voters for this arson, but in a race this close, the incentive is there for all sorts of people to do nefarious things that could have an impact in any direction. All we can say for certain right now is that the future of American elections looks increasingly bleak.