Fires likely torching hundreds of ballots in drop boxes near Portland, Oregon, on Monday were set ablaze using devices that carried the message “Free Gaza.”
On Monday, fires were set in two election drop boxes located in Portland and Vancouver, Washington. The boxes were located just 15 miles apart.
Investigators looking into the drop box fires have yet to arrest any suspects, according to The New York Times. A third ignition device was found at another drop box in Vancouver with the message “Free Palestine” on it, as well. The devices have been sent to a lab in Huntsville, Alabama, that specializes in analyzing explosive devices.
“There was enough evidence collected at all three scenes that lead us to believe that all three incidents are connected, and we cannot get into more detail,” Portland Police Bureau spokesman Mike Benner said Monday, according to the Times.
The police released footage of a vehicle suspected to be involved in the incidents – a dark, early 2000s Volvo – and asked the public to help identify the vehicle and the driver.
The ignition device in Vancouver destroyed hundreds of ballots after the fire suppressant system failed, and authorities are asking voters who placed ballots in that dropbox on Saturday morning to request a replacement ballot. In the drop box in Portland, the fire suppression system worked successfully and protected almost all the ballots. Three were damaged, and election officials are reaching out to the voters to whom they belonged.
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The Democratic Party has been riled by anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists who have pressured the party and White House to cut off support to Israel in the conflict against Iran and its proxy groups in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Yemen, and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Thousands of protesters showed up to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August to protest against Israel. Hundreds of organizations partnered to coordinate a mass march through the streets of Chicago and protests outside of the convention venue on its opening day.
The Department of Homeland Security warned in a report released earlier this month that setting fire to ballot boxes is one of a series of threats that complicate security in the upcoming election.
