A Vancouver ballot box was burned in an arson Monday morning, authorities report – with hundreds of ballots possibly damaged in the fire.
KATU was on the scene at Fisher’s Landing Transit Center in Vancouver shortly after 4 a.m., where heavy smoke was seen coming from inside a drop-off ballot box.
Our photographer Evan Bell captured grey smoke steadily billowing out of the Park and Ride ballot box at Fisher’s Landing Transit Center near Southeast 162nd Avenue.
Multiple police units were in the area, and the ballot box was cordoned off by police tape as it continued to smoke.
Around 6 a.m., KATU captured footage of first responders releasing a pile of actively burning ballots onto the ground, which continued to smolder and smoke heavily even after the flames were put out.
The Clark County elections auditor told us that the last ballot pickup at that location was 11 a.m. Saturday. Hundreds of ballots were inside at the time of the burning, and KATU was told there were maybe only a few that could be saved.
