What you need to know about the ballot box incidents in Oregon and Washington

The FBI, along with local and state law enforcement, is investigating two incidents involving ballot boxes catching fire Monday in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington.

Police announced Monday that enough material had been collected from the crime scene to conclude that the two fires are related.

Law enforcement officials also said a “suspicious vehicle” was identified as part of their investigation into the incidents.

Surveillance footage captured a Volvo stopping at a Portland mailbox moments before security personnel discovered the ballot box fire, Portland Police Bureau spokesman Mike Benner said at a news conference Monday.

While the fire damaged only three of the ballots at the Portland polls, hundreds of ballots were destroyed in the Vancouver fire, officials said.

“We take the safety of our election workers seriously and will not tolerate threats or acts of violence intended to undermine the democratic process,” said US Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. in a statement following the suspected arson incident. “I strongly condemn all acts of terrorism aimed at disrupting lawful and fair elections in Washington State. Despite this incident, I have full confidence in our county elections official’s ability to conduct Washington’s elections safely for all voters.”

Monday’s fires at the polls come as election administrators across the country are in dire straits. warning on the potential for threats and violence against election administration and pollsters as we get closer to election day. Experts and election officials have been warning for months that ballot boxes specifically could be an area of ​​fixation for bad actors. domestic extremists after thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories about ballot measures that were popular among far-right extremists and supporters of Donald Trump during the 2020 election.

In fact, US intelligence officials have quietly issued warnings to government agencies in recent months about a growing threat of extremist violence related to the 2024 presidential election – raising particular alarm about the potential for attacks on ballot boxes.

Department of Homeland Security analysts warned of an “increased risk” of extremists carrying out attacks, including plots to destroy bins of paper ballots and other “lone wolf” attacks on election facilities across the country. according to copies of a series of reports dated between July and September obtained by Wired.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security even stated issued a public warning over concerns that domestic extremists and lone wolf actors could target every level of election administration this fall, including ballot boxes.

Julie Farnam, who served as assistant director of the U.S. Capitol Police’s Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division until May 2023 — and gave early warning about the possibility of an attack on Congress before Jan. 6 — told TPM in a piece published Monday that she believes “lone wolf” attacks targeting lower-level candidates and election infrastructure pose the “biggest risk” in the current climate.