PORTLAND, Oregon. (AP) — Incendiary devices were set off Monday at two ballot drop boxes, one in Portland and the other near Vancouver, Wash., destroying hundreds of ballots in what one official called a “direct assault on democracy” for nearly a week. ahead of a heated Election Day.

An early morning fire at a polling station in Portland was quickly extinguished thanks to an extinguishing system inside the ballot box and a nearby security guard, and only three ballots there were damaged, police said.

But within hours, another fire was discovered at a transit center distribution box across the Columbia River in Vancouver. Vancouver is the largest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District and the location of what is expected to happen. One of the closest US House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

Greg Kimsey, the long-time elected auditor in Washington’s Clark County, which includes Vancouver, said there was also a fire suppression system inside the ballot box in Vancouver, but that system could not prevent hundreds of ballots from burning. He urged voters who dropped off their ballots at the transit center drop box after 11 a.m. Saturday to contact his office for a new ballot.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Kendiy said. “It is a direct attack on democracy”

Kendiy said the department will increase the frequency of ballot collection and change collection hours towards the evening to prevent ballot boxes from being filled with ballots overnight, at a time when similar crimes are likely to be committed.

The county also decided late Monday to hire workers through a staffing agency that will monitor all distribution boxes 24 hours a day until the election is over, Kimsey said. Workers will be instructed to only observe the ballot boxes and not to confront anyone. Instead, he said, if they see anything suspicious, they call 911.

Ballot boxes have faced increasing criticism from Republicans and become a focal point of the election. unfounded right-wing conspiracy theories In recent years, it has been linked to former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. One Associated Press investigation of state election officials It found that there were no widespread problems with mailboxes across the US in 2020, and none of them could have affected the results.

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

Polling places have long been used in Washington and Oregon, both of which allow mail-in voting.

Authorities said at a news conference in Portland that enough material had been collected from the incendiary devices to show that Monday’s two fires were linked, and that they were also linked to an Oct. 8 incident in which an incendiary device was planted at a different ballot box. PO box in Vancouver. No ballot papers were damaged in this incident.

Surveillance footage captured a Volvo pulling up to a delivery box in Portland, Oregon, just before nearby security personnel noticed a fire inside the box on Monday, Portland Police Bureau spokesman Mike Benner said at a news conference. Incendiary devices were attached to the outside of the boxes.

The FBI was also investigating.

Fire suppression systems inside ballot drop boxes in Washington and Oregon are designed to activate when the temperature inside reaches a certain point, coating the ballots with an incendiary powder.

The system appeared to be working at the Portland delivery box, and security guards were nearby to help extinguish the fire. Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said the county contracts with private security guards to have “roving patrols” that roam the county 24 hours a day and “keep watch” on all distribution boxes.

He said one of the guards was at the district election office, heard a sound similar to an explosion, possibly the fire extinguishing system being activated, and called the police.

For unknown reasons, the system failed to prevent hundreds of ballots from being destroyed in Vancouver.

Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement that she requested the presence of law enforcement at all ballot boxes in Clark County overnight on Election Day.

“Southwest Washington cannot risk losing a single vote to arson and political violence,” he said in the statement.

The city also condemned the “cowardly act of terrorism” in a video posted on social platform X. He said he trusted law enforcement to find out who was responsible, urged voters to make sure their votes were counted, and said he maintained faith in the ballot drop system in Washington.

“It shouldn’t intimidate anyone,” Kent said.

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

John Burnside, 68, said he and his wife dropped off their ballots at the Vancouver ballot box on Sunday afternoon and learned of the fire on the news the next morning. He checked the status of the ballot papers, and when he did not see that they had reached the election officials, he asked for new ones.

He said they now plan to either mail ballots or deliver them in person.

“I’m definitely in favor of voting in person because you know your ballot will be approved at that moment,” he said. “It may be extra work, but it provides some security.”

Officials in Portland were able to identify three voters whose ballots were damaged and planned to contact them and provide replacement ballots. The Multnomah County sheriff’s office said uniformed and plainclothes patrols will be increased around mailboxes.

On Monday afternoon, voters cast their ballots in a new ballot box that replaced the ballot box that was set on fire in Portland. Pam Parnell said the incident shocked her.

“This seems so wrong,” said Parnell, who dropped off her ballot. “We have been working for over 200 years to have a country and to be able to vote.”

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said in a statement: “Any criminal activity intended to intimidate voters or undermine the upcoming election is un-American and will not be tolerated.”

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the state would not tolerate threats or acts of violence that would derail the vote.

“I strongly condemn any act of terrorism aimed at subverting legal and fair elections in Washington state,” he said.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said state and local election officials are committed to ensuring every vote is counted accurately.

“This was a violent attack on democracy, and we will do everything to keep our election system strong and secure in Washington,” Inslee said in a statement. “There will be increased security around the polling places 24 hours a day.”

Last week in Phoenix, officials said about five ballots were destroyed and others were damaged in a fire at a mailbox at a U.S. Postal Service station.

___

Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu contributed. Johnson reported from Seattle.