By GENE JOHNSON and CLAIRE RUSH

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Incendiary devices were set off Monday at two polling stations — one in Portland and another near Vancouver, Wash. — destroying hundreds of ballots in what one official called a week-long “direct attack on democracy.” before a heated election day.

The early morning fire at the Portland booth was quickly extinguished thanks to a suppression system inside the box as well as a nearby security guard, police said, and only three ballots were damaged there.

But within hours, another fire was discovered at a transit hub across the Columbia River in Vancouver. Vancouver is the largest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where it’s expected to be one of the closest races for the US House in the country between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

The Vancouver ballot box also had a fire suppression system inside, but that failed to prevent hundreds of ballots from burning, said Greg Kimsey, the longtime elected auditor of Clark County, Wash., which includes Vancouver. He urged voters who dropped off their ballots in the transit center box after 11 a.m. Saturday to contact his office for a replacement ballot.

“Heartbreaking,” Kimsey said. “It’s a direct attack on democracy.”

The office will increase the frequency with which it collects ballots and shift collection hours to evenings, Kimsey said, to prevent ballot boxes from being filled with ballots overnight, when similar crimes are thought to be more likely to occur.

The ballot boxes have faced increasing criticism from Republicans and have been in the spotlight baseless right-wing conspiracy theories in recent years, related to former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. A Associated Press poll of state election officials in the US found that there were no widespread problems with drop boxes in 2020, and none that could have affected the results.

Six states have banned ballots starting in 2020: Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and South Dakota, according to research by the Voting Rights Lab, which advocates for expanded voting access. Other states have restricted their use, including Ohio and Iowa, which now only allow one box per county, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Washington and Oregon, which are both vote-by-mail states, have long used ballot boxes.

Authorities said at a news conference in Portland that enough material was recovered from the incendiary devices to show that Monday’s two fires were connected — and that they were also linked to an incident on Oct. 8, when a device arsonist was placed on another ballot. PO Box in Vancouver. No ballots were damaged in that incident.

Surveillance footage captured a Volvo pulling up to a box in Portland, Ore., just before nearby security personnel discovered a fire inside the box on Monday, Portland Police Bureau spokesman Mike Benner said in a statement. – a press conference. Incendiary devices were attached to the outside of the boxes.

The FBI was also investigating.

Fire suppression systems inside ballot boxes in Washington and Oregon were designed to activate when the temperature inside reaches a certain point, coating the ballots with a fire-fighting powder.

The system appeared to have worked in the Portland box and security personnel were nearby to help extinguish the fire. Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said the county has contracted with private security officers to have “roving patrols” that drive around the county 24 hours a day and “keep an eye” on all the boxes.

He said one of the security guards was at the county elections office, heard what sounded like an explosion – possibly the activation of the fire suppression system – and called the police.

For unknown reasons, the system failed to prevent the destruction of hundreds of ballots in Vancouver.

Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement that she is calling for an overnight law enforcement presence posted at all polls in Clark County until Election Day.

“Southwest Washington cannot risk a single vote being lost to wildfires and political violence,” her statement said.

In a video posted on social platform X, Kent also condemned the “cowardly act of terrorism”. He said he has faith in law enforcement to find out who is responsible, urged voters to make sure their ballots are counted and said he continues to have faith in Washington’s ballot system.

“Nobody should be intimidated,” Kent said.

Voters were encouraged to check their voting status online at www.votewa.gov to track return status. If a returned ballot is not marked “received,” voters can print a replacement ballot or visit their local elections department for a replacement, the secretary of state’s office said.