Ballot boxes were set on fire in Oregon and Washington. Should voters be worried?

Millions of Americans have already cast their votes in the 2024 presidential election at polling places or by dropping them off by mail or ballot drop boxes, a longtime popular way to return completed ballots. When some ballots were damaged in an intentional fire at ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington on Monday, questions were raised about the security of ballot boxes and how votes were counted.

However, election officials told PolitiFact that the vast majority of ballot boxes are secured and it is rare for ballots to be lost or damaged. Election officials are accustomed and trained in dealing with damaged ballots.

“I think we had some bad actors here,” said the chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Benjamin Hovland. “Overall, this is a safe way to vote.”

In Portland, Oregon, a fire suppression system Hundreds of ballots were secured inside the ballot box, and three were damaged. Voters’ names were still visible and the county clerk will contact those voters, said Laura Kerns, Oregon Secretary of State’s communications director. Oregon voters can too track their ballots on the Internet.

“Voters should have confidence that even if their ballots are in the correct ballot box, their votes will be counted,” Elections Director Tim Scott of Multnomah County, Oregon, said Monday press release.

In Vancouver, Washington, ballot boxes were equipped with fire suppression systems, but they appear to have failed. According to an election official, 488 damaged ballots were identified press release from Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey. Vancouver is located in Clark County.

Of the 488 voters whose ballots were damaged, 345 have contacted the Clark County elections office since Tuesday to request a replacement ballot, and election board officials mailed replacement ballots to the remaining 143 voters on Thursday. Kimsey said six ballots could not be identified and others may have been burned beyond recognition.

Millions of ballots were returned by mail or drop boxes without incident.

“We had about 50 million early votes, we already voted, very few problems,” said David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research CBS News on Tuesday. “These are very, very isolated attacks.”

How election officials deal with damaged ballots

There are scenarios in which a ballot could be lost or destroyed, but that is rare, said Hovland of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

“Election officials will do everything in their power to keep this voter healthy,” he said. It is important that voters have their contact information on file with their local board of elections so that they can contact them if necessary.

While ballot box fires are a new phenomenon, election officials are accustomed to dealing with damaged ballots.

“It’s not unusual for a voter to call you and say, ‘My dog ​​ate my ballot, I spilled coffee on him,’ and you issue the voter a new ballot,” she said Jennifer Morrellformer election official in Utah and Colorado, currently CEO of The Elections Group, which deals with election consulting.

Practices vary by state, but election officials typically count the first ballot received, so even in the event that a voter fills out a replacement ballot, even though the first ballot has already been counted, the replacement will not be counted. Morrell said if a voter casts two ballots, election officials will report the incident to authorities responsible for investigating voting crimes.

When ballots are so damaged that the machines can’t read them but are still intact and the markings are still legible, trained bipartisan teams transfer voters’ choices to new ballots so the machines can read them, Morrell said.

Fire-damaged ballots that still have sufficient information to identify the voter can be replaced by contacting the voter. Morrell said if the ballot turns to ash in a fire, it will be more difficult. Voters can track their ballot online to ensure it has arrived and, if in doubt, call their local elections office to check the status of their ballot.

If you can’t determine whether your ballot arrived and you can’t obtain a replacement ballot, Morrell recommends going to your polling place on Election Day and voting using a provisional ballot. If your original ballot finally arrives, your provisional ballot will not be counted.

In Oregon, for example, all voting is done by mail, and a replacement ballot can be issued to any voter who needs one. Unique barcodes on each envelope ensure that only one ballot is counted for each registered voter, Kerns said.

Ballot boxes are basically safe

Authorities believe the ballot box fires in Oregon and Washington are related and also related to an incident on Oct. 8 when another box in Vancouver was targeted by an incendiary device.

There have been isolated incidents of ballot destruction elsewhere this election cycle. A mailbox was set on fire on October 24 in Phoenix and about 20 ballots were destroyed. Maricopa County election officials he contacted voters he knew had influenceand others who used this drop box to submit their ballots were asked to contact the elections office to obtain a replacement ballot. And in 2020, two drop boxes were set on fire, including one in California and second century Massachusettsdestroyed a total of approximately 135 ballots.

Election experts assure voters that using ballot boxes is safe.

Susanna Almeidathe director of state operations for Common Cause, a public advocacy group, told reporters during a Tuesday webinar that “we haven’t seen a trend with wildfires.”

“Voting by mail is still extremely safe,” including using ballot drop boxes, Almeida said.

Almeida encouraged voters to track their absentee ballots online. Many election offices allow voters to sign up to receive text messages or emails when they receive their completed ballots.

Each state conducts its own elections, but many drop boxes have fire suppression systems and many drop boxes are monitored by surveillance cameras; some states have regulations requiring monitoring by staff or a video camera. Others are located inside buildings, inaccessible to visitors from day to day. In Clark County Election officials said they would collect ballots from the boxes every day before 5:30 p.m. so that they are not full overnight, and increase the number of patrols around the boxes. Electoral commission employees also monitor ballot boxes 24 hours a day.

The The Associated Press polled election officials after the 2020 election and concluded that there were no widespread problems with the ballot boxes or any that could affect the results.

Drop boxes are generally safer than stand-alone mailboxes. They usually weigh hundreds of pounds, can be bolted to the ground, and have small slots through which ballots can be dropped. Documented cases of security problems are rare.

PolitiFact senior correspondent Amy Sherman contributed reporting.

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