Ballot drop box fires highlight election conspiracy concerns

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY and ALI SWENSON, Related Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Two poll drop packing containers within the Pacific Northwest have been broken in a suspected arson assault simply over every week earlier than Election Day, destroying hundreds of ballots at one location in Vancouver, Washington.

On the different, in neighboring Portland, Oregon, it seems a hearth suppression system labored to include the blaze and restricted the variety of ballots broken to a few. Authorities are reviewing surveillance footage as they attempt to establish who’s accountable.

Right here’s what occurred, how guidelines and safety measures about drop packing containers range throughout the nation, and the way election conspiracy theories have undermined confidence of their use.

What do we all know?

Police stated incendiary gadgets began the fires within the drop packing containers in Portland and Vancouver. Authorities stated proof confirmed the fires have been related and that additionally they are associated to an Oct. 8 incident when an incendiary machine was positioned at a unique drop field in Vancouver.

Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott stated his workplace was planning to contact the three voters whose ballots have been broken in Portland to assist them get replacements.

In Vancouver, a whole bunch of ballots have been misplaced at a poll field on the Fisher’s Touchdown Transit Middle when the drop field’s fireplace suppression system didn’t work as supposed. Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey stated the field was final emptied at 11 a.m. Saturday. Voters who dropped their ballots there afterward are being urged to contact the workplace to get a brand new one.

The workplace will likely be growing how continuously it collects ballots and altering assortment occasions to the night to maintain poll packing containers from remaining full in a single day when vandalism is extra prone to happen.

Kimsey described the suspected arson as “a direct assault on democracy.”

When and the place can drop packing containers be used?

Drop packing containers have been used for years in states corresponding to Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Washington, the place ballots are mailed to all registered voters.

They grew in reputation in 2020 in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, as election officers sought choices for voters who wished to keep away from crowded polling locations or have been anxious about mail delays.

In all, 27 states and the District of Columbia enable poll drop packing containers, in accordance with information collected by the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures. Six others don’t have a particular regulation however enable native communities to make use of them.

Placement can range broadly. In some communities, they’re positioned inside public buildings, accessible solely throughout workplace hours. Elsewhere, they’re outdoors and accessible at any hour, usually with video surveillance or somebody watching.

Sporadic issues have occurred through the years.

In 2020, a number of drop packing containers have been hit by autos, and one in Massachusetts was broken by arson. In that case, a lot of the ballots have been legible sufficient for voters to be recognized and despatched replacements. A drop field additionally was set on fireplace in Los Angeles County in 2020.

How ought to they be secured?

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company advises state and native election officers to put drop packing containers in handy, high-traffic areas which can be acquainted to voters, corresponding to libraries and neighborhood facilities.

If drop packing containers are usually not staffed, they need to be secured and locked always, positioned in well-lit areas and monitored by video surveillance cameras, the steerage says. Many are bolted to the bottom, surveilled with cameras or confined to public buildings throughout enterprise hours, the place they are often monitored.

How have conspiracy theories contributed to considerations round drop packing containers?

Poll drop packing containers have been within the highlight for the final 4 years, focused by right-wing conspiracy theories that falsely claimed they have been liable for huge voter fraud in 2020.

A debunked movie known as “2,000 Mules” amplified the claims, exposing tens of millions to a groundless theory {that a} poll harvesting operation was depositing fraudulent ballots in drop packing containers at nighttime of evening.

An Associated Press survey of state election officials throughout the U.S. discovered there have been no widespread issues related to drop packing containers in 2020.

Paranoia about drop packing containers continued into the 2022 midterms, when armed vigilantes started displaying as much as monitor them in Arizona and have been restricted by a federal judge. This 12 months, the conservative group True the Vote launched an internet site internet hosting citizen livestreams of drop packing containers in numerous states.

In Montana, the place an essential U.S. Senate race is on the poll, Republicans just lately seized on an unsubstantiated poll field tampering declare to boost cash off doubts in regards to the electoral course of.

How have states responded for the reason that 2020 election?

Republican lawmakers in a number of states sought to tighten guidelines round mail voting after the 2020 election, and far of their focus was on using poll drop packing containers.

Six states have since banned them: Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and South Dakota, in accordance with analysis by the Voting Rights Lab, which advocates for expanded voting entry.

Different states have restricted their use. This consists of Ohio and Iowa, which now permits just one drop field per county, in accordance with the Brennan Middle for Justice.