Firebombs went off at ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and just across the Columbia river in Vancouver, Washington, early in the morning Monday. Hundreds of ballots were destroyed in Vancouver but just three ballots were damaged in Portland, thanks to a fire-suppression system inside the Oregon ballot box. It also helped that private security people were nearby to help put out the fire.
Another attempt at burning a ballot box in Vancouver occurred October 8, and police believe all three arsons are related, based on the materials recovered from the incendiary devices. No ballots were damaged in the earlier incident. The devices were attached to the outsides of the ballot boxes, not dropped in with the ballots as some initial accounts reported.
By coincidence — REALLY, for once, no sarcastic underlining this time — the US Postal Service reminded voters quite vehemently Monday that if your mail-in ballot has to arrive by Election Day, you should get it in the mail no later than TODAY, Tuesday, October 29. The USPS noted that 99.89 percent of ballots in 2020 reached election officials within a week of being mailed, with the vast majority arriving within three to five days, but for Crom’s sake don’t push your luck!
The AP reports that the ballot drop box in Vancouver also had a fire-suppression system but it wasn’t able to prevent most of the hundreds of ballots inside from burning. Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey urged anyone who put a ballot in that box after 11 AM Saturday — the last time ballots had been collected — to contact his office ASAP to get a replacement ballot. Kimsey called the firebombing “Heartbreaking. It’s a direct attack on democracy.”
We’d say so. Here’s video of firefighters emptying the burning ballot box and trying to collect any ballots that might be salvageable, via Portland’s KATU-TV.
In Portland, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that enough identifying details were recovered from the three damaged envelopes to allow Multnomah County to make sure the voters get replacement ballots. State and county officials issued statements reassuring voters the election will be safe; the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office will set up additional patrols to make sure ballot drop boxes are secure.
In Washington, Clark County officials said they will schedule additional regular retrievals of ballots from drop boxes so if another arson occurs, fewer ballots will be affected. Kimsey said that law enforcement would also step up patrols there.
Both states have websites where voters can check the status of their mail-in ballots; in Oregon it’s the secretary of state’s election website, and in Washington it’s www.votewa.gov. Washington’s secretary of state urges Vancouver voters to check the status of their ballots at that site and if it isn’t yet “received,” they can print a replacement or get one at the Clark County elections department office. And hey, it’s not Texas, so if you submit a replacement ballot but your first ballot is counted, the replacement will simply be blocked by the software and you won’t be charged with treason.
And yes, the FBI is investigating, too; anyone who knows anything (about the crime, not general knowledge, you goofballs) can go to tips.fbi.gov or to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. The proper tip for the FBI is at least 15 to 20 percent, more for an excellent investigation.
The Portland and Vancouver arsons follow an incident in Phoenix in which an asshole set fire to a USPS mailbox, damaging or destroying five mail-in ballots; the asshole arrested in that incident said he simply wanted to be arrested and had no political motive. Another asshole was arrested in the Phoenix area last week for repeatedly shooting out windows at a Democratic National Committee office.
No motive has been announced in the Portland and Vancouver arsons, but we’re betting it probably wasn’t a protest against high egg prices, orca attacks on yachts, or smut on TV.
We’re hoping the asshole or assholes responsible will be caught based on the evidence recovered from the firebombs.
Monday afternoon, the Portland Police Bureau released photos of the burned ballot box and a suspect vehicle. The vehicle is a “black or dark-colored 2001-2004 Volvo S-60. The vehicle does not have a front license plate, but it does have an unknown rear plate. Investigators believe the vehicle is tied to two similar incidents in the Vancouver, Washington area.”
The AP also notes that Vancouver is the site of what’s likely to be “one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.”
Kent, you may recall, is the far-Right MAGA creep who in the 2022 GOP primary turfed out incumbent Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler, who committed the unforgivable sins of voting to certify Joe Biden’s election in 2020 and went on to vote to impeach Donald Trump. He was defeated in the 2022 general election by Gluesenkamp Perez, so he’s running again to see if there are enough MAGAs this year to get him into Congress.
Both Gluesenkamp Perez and Kent issued statements condemning the arson attacks; Gluesenkamp Perez called for law enforcement to be posted overnight at all drop boxes in Clark County. Kent took to Twitter to call the arson a “cowardly act of terrorism” and urged voters to check on their ballot status. He added, “No one should be intimidated” from voting by mail, and in what had to be a remarkable act of restraint, didn’t even blame antifa or claim it was a false flag attack.
Yr Wonkette would like to emphasize that it would be very irresponsible to speculate that some asshole attacked the two Vancouver ballot boxes with incendiary devices in an effort to ratfuck that particular race — hitting a box in Portland as a distraction — rather than as a more general attack on voting by mail, which is how both states conduct most of their elections.
But who knows? Are rightwing loons allowed to drive Volvos?
[AP / Oregon Public Broadcasting]
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This was no voting accident!
— Matt Hooper, marine biologist
So I read a D Kos story by a phonebanker who happened to call a guy who turned out to be Puerto Rican and he is PISSED. And hasn't voted yet but WILL.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/29/2280477/-Conversation-with-a-Puerto-Rican-Gentleman-I-Spoke-to-While-Phone-Banking-Last-Night?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web#comment_89964297
My favorite comment on the story:
"The Whole Foods delivery guy brought us stuff yesterday.
My wife is of Dominican Republic descent and she had a rousing Spanish discussion with the Puerto Rico delivery guy …… got heated arms a wavin’ (I was concerned they were fighting each other) … turns out they were cursing out Rump, etc.
ALL of his friends and family that might have been on the fence are all in for Harris and up and down BLUE — this in Florida!!!
According to him — the Hispanic population is on FIRE over those comments!!! The anti-Trump word is out!!
Trust me — you don’t want to argue with a Hispanic person (especially a woman), Just ask my wife!"