Two ballot boxes were set aflame in the Northwest, one in Vancouver, Washington and the other in Portland, Oregon. There was then a third fire on October 8th also in Vancouver, which officials believe is connected to the first two. It is assumed that the same person is responsible for all fires, as the same vehicle was found at the scene all three times; the vehicle in question is a dark colored 2001-2004 Volvo S-60. The device used to set the ballot boxes on fire had the words “Free Gaza” written on it, leading officials to believe that the person behind the fires is a pro-Palestine activist.

People are taking to social media to encourage ways of destroying votes to potentially sabotage the election. Majority of voters in the areas of attack vote by mail, making these incidents have an impact on how voters choose to vote. One voter from Vancouver who put his vote in the ballot box that exploded said that he would now be driving to the election office to drop off his new vote once he filled out his replacement ballot.

It is recorded that approximately 475 ballots were recovered in Vancouver alone, and thankfully not all were burned to ash. In response to this incident, officials had fire suppressants installed onto ballot boxes in Portland, which ended up saving about 400 ballots. Three were burned past the point of saving, and officials said they would contact the voters whose votes were affected by using “unique identifiers” that can be found on their ballot envelopes. The ballot box was also replaced.

“‘Make no mistake, an attack on a ballot box is an attack on our democracy and completely unacceptable,’ Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade said Monday” (CNN). The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI are working to find the culprit and hold them accountable. Law enforcement plans to add 24-hour surveillance of ballot boxes as they find voter intimidation tactics to be.