OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:41 PM – Thursday, October 31, 2024
A man who recently set ballot drop boxes on fire in Oregon and Washington State could very likely be experienced in metalworking, due to the way the incendiary devices were constructed.
Authorities also added that the suspect may be planning additional attacks, according to an announcement on Wednesday.
The suspect dropped the first device in a ballot box on October 8th, in Vancouver, Washington, and struck again on Monday, setting fire to a box in Portland, Oregon, and another back in Vancouver, Washington.
According to the Associated Press, an unnamed law enforcement official stated that the devices were marked with pro-Palestine messages, such as “Free Palestine” and “Free Gaza.”
The anonymous official added that investigators are now working to determine the identity and motive of the perpetrator, and whether or not the suspect genuinely had pro-Palestine views or if the message was planted to sow confusion.
Authorities revealed that the suspect is a “White man, between the ages of 30 and 40,” and he was caught on footage approaching a ballot box in a “dark-colored early 2000’s Volvo S-60,” shortly before the box caught fire. Police stated that the vehicle was missing a driver’s license in the front of the vehicle, and they were not able to identify the characters on the back license plate.
The most recent attack on the ballot box in Vancouver had a fire prevention system, which failed to suppress the burning of hundreds of ballots, according to Greg Kimsy, a longtime elected auditor in Clark County, Washington.
Election staff quickly began assessing the damage and were able to identify 488 burned ballots, of which 345 voters had requested a replacement ballot, ABC News reported, as of Tuesday evening.
Kimsey urged voters who had dropped off their ballots between 11 a.m. local time on Saturday, and early Monday, to contact election officials for a replacement.
Additionally, Kimsey addressed the arson attacks as a “direct attack on democracy,” and noted that police would increase patrols around the drop box locations, as well as ensuring Clark County Elections Office employees will keep eyes on the ballot boxes 24/7 from now until the end of the election.
The first ballot box incident on October 8th followed the October 7th anniversary of Israel’s war in Gaza, which was in response to the October 7th, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered, with 251 more abducted in the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
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