FBI drop box arson investigation continues as WA law enforcement step up patrols

The FBI continues to investigate Monday’s arson that destroyed hundreds of election ballots inside a Vancouver, Wash., drop box.

An incendiary device was also dropped next to a Portland drop box, but fire suppression built into the box put out the flames before any major damage. Multnomah County election officials reported only three ballots were damaged.

Joni McAnally, communications specialist at the Clark County Manager's Office, told The Center Square via email that the Vancouver drop box was also equipped with fire suppression, “but it did not work as it should have."

Later Wednesday a follow up email from McAnally indicated elections staff have been able to identify 488 damaged ballots retrieved from the ballot box.

"345 of those identified voters had already contacted the Elections Office to request a replacement ballot," she said. "Elections staff will mail 143 ballots to the additional identified voters tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 31."

Elections personnel were unable to identify six of the ballots. Other ballots may have been completely burned to ash, and therefore, unidentifiable, according to the email.

“I appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience as we work through this unprecedented event,” said County Auditor Greg Kimsey. “We have taken action that I hope will increase voters’ confidence in using the county’s ballot drop boxes.”

Election workers updated their retrieval schedule for the drop boxes and now pick up ballots prior to 5:30 p.m. each day, the county said. Ballots deposited prior to that time will be received at the Elections Office that same day.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Vancouver Police Department have increased patrols around ballot drop box locations as their calls for service allow.

In addition to an increased law enforcement presence, the county said via email that employees now serve as ballot box observers 24 hours a day, seven days a week at each of the 22 drop boxes throughout the county. Employees will not confront anyone. They are there to observe and report any suspicious activities to the proper authorities.

On Wednesday election workers were expected to continue sorting through damaged ballots and contacting voters who may need a replacement ballot.

According to The New York Times, incendiary devices found at the Vancouver and Portland drop box arson sites were marked with the words “Free Gaza.”

Elsewhere, votes were coming in.

“We are seeing really steady returns here in King County thus far,” said Halei Watkins, communications manager at King County Elections in a Wednesday interview with The Center Square. “We’re at about 35% as of Wednesday morning, but that doesn’t include what we’ll get in the mail today and through drop boxes.”

She said in 2020, King County elections collected around 200,000 ballots in the first few days of voting.

“We are actually trending a little behind 2020 when we saw a super strong first weekend of voting that we didn’t quite have this time around,” Watkins said. “It was only about 50,000 on the first weekend this year but every single day we’re getting full bins back on many of our drop boxes and we’re picking up about 30,000 to 40,000 ballots every day.”

In Washington, election workers can begin processing the ballot upon receipt. That means they check the signature on the return envelope and compare it with the signature on file. If the signatures match, the ballot counts and is ready to be tallied with initial returns announced after 8 p.m. on Nov 5.

Even a name change will not disqualify a ballot if the handwriting is clearly the same, although in that situation the auditor will send the voter a change of name form.

Watkins said the drop box arsons in Vancouver and Portland Monday may be part of the reason they are seeing a lot of traffic at the Renton election headquarters this week.

“We are seeing lots of folks come by our office and either use the drop boxes in our parking lot or walk inside to drop it off, so steady here at the office,” she said.

“Seeing those images out of Clark County and those burning ballots was really heartbreaking,” said Watkins, who told The Center Square their drop boxes are designed with two fire stops inside. Officials are taking extra precautions to ensure ballots are safe.

“We are adding additional pickups, so all of them will be picked up at least twice a day with our busier boxes picked up more than that and we’ll be adding pickups as we move closer to election day next week,” she said.

Law enforcement is stepping up patrols.

“The King County Sheriff’s Office and other local agencies are doing more safety checks at our boxes to keep eyes on them and make sure nothing suspicious is going on,” said Watkins, who noted voters should report anything suspicious.

She continued, “If voters feel intimidated at a drop box or see something that is concerning to them, they can call 911 and law enforcement has told us very clearly that people should not hesitate to call in."

Meantime in Whitman County, in the southeast corner of the state, hundreds of voters have yet to receive their ballot.

A Tuesday news release from Whitman County Auditor Sandy Jamison read, “It has come to my attention that some Whitman County registered voters have not yet received their ballots for this upcoming election.”

Jamison wrote that she had verified that all the ballots were processed out of the main Spokane plant on Oct. 16, but said, “It seems that the problem lies with the ballot distribution process AFTER these ballots were marked “successfully scanned” by the USPS into their system at the processing plant.”

Jamison urged voters to either print out a replacement ballot at VoteWA.gov or call the auditors office for more information at 509-397-5284.