Police describe suspect in ballot box fires in Washington and Oregon

SEATTLE — A man with a "wealth of experience in metal fabrication and welding" is suspected of setting incendiary devices next to three ballot drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, this month, causing fires that damaged hundreds of ballots early Monday, police officials said.

Investigators say it is "very possible" the man, whom they believe to be between 30 and 40 years old with short or balding hair, will target other drop boxes in the area, Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner said during a news conference Wednesday at downtown Portland's Multnomah County Justice Center.

The man is suspected of causing the back-to-back fires in Portland and Vancouver on Monday and placing an incendiary device that never went off next to an empty Vancouver drop box on Oct. 8, police say.

The New York Times and The Associated Press reported that the message "Free Gaza" was marked on all three incendiary devices, citing unnamed law enforcement officials who were not authorized to discuss the investigation. One of the officials said investigators are trying to determine whether the suspect is a pro-Palestinian activist, or used the message "to sow discord," according to The New York Times.

Investigators believe the man was driving a black or dark-colored 2001-2004 Volvo S60 with no front license plates, as seen in surveillance camera footage next to the drop box in Southeast Portland sometime before 3:30 a.m. Monday, Benner said.

The FBI is investigating the three incidents and believes they are connected, he said.

Only three ballots inside the Portland drop box were damaged, thanks to a fire suppression system within the drop box and a security guard who helped extinguish the flames before police arrived, officials said.

Two fire suppression devices — called StoveTop FireStop Rangehood — were installed inside the Vancouver drop box before the Aug. 6 primary election but "didn't perform as we expected," Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said in a phone call Wednesday.

The devices were made by Fort Worth, Texas-based company WilliamsRDM. Representatives did not respond to inquiries Wednesday.

Previously, Kimsey said his office is exploring what it can do to prevent or minimize damage to ballots if "an incident like this were to happen again."

"Our focus right now is on this election and implementing measures to ensure that voters can be confident when they deposit their ballot in a ballot drop box, that it will be returned to the elections office and processed," he said.

Clark County elections employees are working to send out replacement ballots to the nearly 500 voters whose ballots were damaged in the fire, Kimsey said.

The Vancouver fire, which happened in a Democratic stronghold in the 3rd Congressional District, could affect one of the most competitive congressional races in the country. The race between incumbent U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal, and Joe Kent, a Republican backed by former President Donald Trump, is seen as key for partisan control of the House, where Republicans currently have a narrow majority.

John Burnside, a 68-year-old chemical engineer, said he and his wife deposited their ballots at the drop box near Vancouver's Fisher's Landing Transit Center around 3 p.m. Sunday on the way to buy groceries. He thought nothing of it until the next morning when he saw in the local paper that there had been a fire at the drop box.

Driving past the ballot box on Monday around 9 a.m., Burnside said he saw the box "smoldering." The video of a person pulling the ballots out showed even greater damage, and Burnside said he realized "there was very little chance that any of those ballots were going to survive."

Burnside checked online to make sure his ballot had not been received and got a replacement ballot for him and his wife from the election office in downtown Vancouver.

"I have to admit, I was quite surprised. You just sort of look at it and go 'The world has changed a lot.' There's a lot of things that maybe didn't happen in the past and you just have to try and make accommodations and roll with it," he said.

Burnside, who has lived in Vancouver for 40 years, said he plans to deliver his new ballot — and all future ballots — in person to the election's office.

"Once burnt, twice shy," he quipped.

Clark County elections employees are preparing to mail out replacement ballot packages Thursday morning to 488 voters whose ballots were damaged, Kimsey said. The box had last been cleared at about 11 a.m. Saturday, less than two days before the fire.

Elections workers were not able to distinguish a name or address on six other ballot packages they retrieved, and it's possible more were "completely destroyed" in the fire, he said. Clark County officials encouraged residents to check the status of their ballots at votewa.gov.

After the Vancouver fire was extinguished, elections workers placed the damaged ballots inside a "secured room" in Clark County and distributed them along tables layered with cardboard. They then placed fans and dehumidifiers throughout the room to dry out the ballot packages, before placing them individually inside resealable one-gallon plastic bags.

Elections workers then reviewed each ballot package to determine which voter it was issued to.

According to Kimsey, 345 people have contacted the county's elections office since Monday to request a replacement ballot. He expected that number to grow Wednesday.

The workers began calling and emailing affected voters Wednesday to notify them that their replacement ballot was on its way. For the 43 people who did not have an email address or phone number associated with their ballot, Kimsey said their replacement ballot would include a letter explaining what happened and how to return their ballot in time.

"I'm so proud of the response by our community, by our law enforcement partners and by our election staff here," Kimsey said. "I'm also impressed by voters who have responded so quickly as well."

Clark County Elections Office employees and temporary employees are stationed as "ballot box observers" 24 hours a day through Election Day, Nov. 5, at each of the county's 22 drop boxes. The workers will report any "suspicious activities" to law enforcement but will not confront anyone. Clark County sheriff's deputies and Vancouver police officers are also patrolling near the drop boxes, as calls for service allow, the county said in a statement Monday.

As of Tuesday, more than 1.7 million ballots had been returned in Washington, according to the Secretary of State's Office. The state has about 4.97 million voters.

James Long, a professor of political science at the University of Washington, said the incidents in Portland and Vancouver were unusual but aligned with other recent instances of political intimidation and violence, including the attempted assassinations of former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"It's a direct crime and assault on the physical integrity of ballots, which is pretty rare overall," he said.

Voters shouldn't worry about the security of ballot drop boxes, however, Long said. Most of the containers are locked, contain fire suppression devices and are emptied regularly by elections workers, and voters can always pick up a replacement ballot if they worry theirs was damaged, he said.

"I think (voters) should look at all of the other evidence about how elections have been administered in Washington and Oregon over the last many, many cycles and feel very, very confident and secure in the integrity of their individual ballots," he said. "This is very, very unusual and so I wouldn't read too much into it."

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(Seattle Times staff reporters Amanda Zhou and Claire Withycombe contributed to this story.)

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