Explainer & Lessons Learned From the Ballot Drop Box Fires in Multnomah County, Oregon and Clark County, Washington

October 30, 2024 · by Paul Gronke · in EVIC News

Paul Gronke (Reed College) and Paul Manson (Center for Public Service at Portland State University), for the Elections & Voting Information Center in Portland, Oregon*

Current version: November 1, 2024

As many news outlets have reported, on Monday, October 28, 2024, drop boxes in Multnomah County, Oregon and Clark County, Washington were set on fire by someone who attached an incendiary device designed to breach metal and create intense heat. Election officials and law enforcement in both counties have been quick to respond.

This essay is the Elections & Voting Information Center’s (EVIC) contribution to helping citizens understand what happened—to the best of our knowledge—and conveying information about these events to a national audience that is suddenly focused on election administration in our region.

What happened?

On Monday, October 28, 2024 between 3:00-4:00 AM, incendiary devices designed specifically to breach metal and inject heat were placed on ballot drop boxes in Multnomah County, Oregon, and in Clark County, Oregon. Election officials and first responders were quickly notified of these events.
1. Security personnel close to the Multnomah County drop box used a fire extinguisher on the outside of the drop box, and fire suppression equipment was automatically deployed inside the drop box.
2. In Clark County, the Vancouver police were notified of a fire at a drop box at 4:00 AM, responded, and contacted the fire department. Fire suppression was ineffective.
3. Explosive experts were called onsite in both cases to safely remove the devices (which may have led to the delay in action in Clark County).
In Multnomah County, three ballots were damaged, but sufficient identifying information remained on the outer envelopes so that the voters could be contacted and given an opportunity to cast a replacement ballot.
In Clark County, fire suppression for their drop box was far less effective. As of Wednesday, October 30, 488 damaged ballots were retrieved and voters identified. 6 ballots could not be identified, and there may be more ballots that were completely burned. Clark County has been in contact with or mailed replacement ballots to all 488. County and state election officials are reaching out through the media and other channels to encourage anyone who used the drop box in question to use Washington State’s ballot tracking system to determine their ballot’s status and to then contact the election office to see if they need to obtain a replacement ballot.
Video surveillance in Multnomah County has identified a likely perpetrator. Law enforcement officials are using this video to try to find the perpetrator.

Updates

Updates: Friday, November 1, 2024
- Clark County will pay “about $134,000” to maintain 24-hour security on all drop boxes.
Updates: Thursday October 31, 2024
- In Multnomah, Portland Police have released a description of the suspect and have provided more details about the incendiary device.
- Correction (and amended in story): Clark County and Multnomah County obtained their drop boxes from the same vendor. It is unclear why fire suppression failed in one case and succeeded in the other.
Updates: Wednesday, October 30 2024
- The Clark County Auditor issued a press release updating the situation with the burned ballots. For details, follow the link, but the takeaway is
  - Elections staff have been able to identify 488 damaged ballots retrieved from the ballot box. As of Tuesday evening, Oct. 29, 345 of those identified voters had already contacted the Elections Office to request a replacement ballot. Elections staff will mail 143 ballots to the additional identified voters tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 31.
Updates: Tuesday, October 29, 2024
- Clark County has announced 24-hour surveillance of drop boxes in the County.
- Multnomah County is increasing the frequency of visits to drop boxes by security personnel and has increased security staffing at the Elections Building.
- The New York Times reports that markings on the incendiary devices in both counties had references to the war in Gaza.

The Importance of Drop Boxes

Vote-by-mail and early voting both involve various ways to return ballots. Many assume that with the name “vote-by-mail”, the primary method of return is the United States Postal Service (USPS). However, this is not the case for Oregon and Washington. In States that provide the option to vote-by-mail, drop boxes and drop sites are the primary way ballots are returned.

The National Overview: Defining and Tracking Usage

According to the Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC’s) 2022 Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS) Policy Survey, 39 states allow the use of drop boxes. The Movement Advancement Project’s list of states that have drop boxes is similar to the EAC but with some differences. The National Conference of State Legislatures is another source, but this list is very different from the previous two. The reason for these differences seems to be that there is no single definition of what it means to be a state using drop boxes. Explicitly allowing or prohibiting drop boxes in state statutes seems clear, but there is a gray area of states that are silent, and drop boxes may or may not be being used. It’s also not clear if a “drop site” at a county office or voting center is being counted–this is “not being mailed” but it is also not a drop box.

Finally, the laws and regulations surrounding drop boxes are in flux. Take, for example, the Movement Advancement Projec t’s coding of Alaska as having “no applicable law or policy”. Drop boxes were used in the state in 2020, but only because the Alaska Division of Elections coordinated with the Municipality of Anchorage and deployed throughout the state. The Division recently announced an end to this program for the 2024 general election. This is one of many areas where comparing laws and procedures across states is hampered by the lack of a common definition used in all states.

Source: “How We Voted in 2022.” Charles Stewart III, MIT Election Data and Science Lab

In terms of usage, according to the 2022 EAVS, nearly 40% of mail ballots were returned at drop boxes (this figure is based only on states that tracked and reported drop box returns). The use of drop sites (drop boxes, elections offices and polling places) is growing over time, and the use of postal returns is declining.

The percentage of mail ballots nationwide that were returned via postal mail declined from 67% in 2016 to 53% in 2020, according to the MIT Election Data and Science Lab’s Survey of the Performance of American Elections, and shown in the future. The same survey reported that the three States with the longest history of vote-by-mail (Oregon, Washington, and Colorado) had 60% of ballots returned via drop box, an increase from 51% in 2016.

“Drop Sites” and Drop Boxes in Oregon and Washington

“Drop sites” is the term used by state elections officials in Oregon and Washington for designated ballot collection locations. Oregon and Washington election law establishes parameters about the placement and population threshold for the number of drop sites, to assure voters have access for returning their ballots and there is some level of equity of access across the states. Oregon election rules require each county to develop a security plan and review it periodically to assess threats to drop sites. (Security requirements may also be in place in Washington, but we do not know at the time of this writing.)

County offices and vote centers are required to be designated drop sites, along with providing other valuable voter services. But both states allow for additional drop sites, and counties have been innovative in finding locations. The list of sites includes the usual suspects – local city hall and other county or municipal buildings, schools, police and fire stations, and public libraries are commonly used. But other locations are used that may surprise voters from states that make less extensive use of drop boxes.

For example, Oregon’s list of sites includes:

A sports complex: “outside 24-hour walk-up only drop box located on the south side of the Rose Quarter by the fountain & Rip City sign”
A Walmart parking lot: “Outside 24-hour drop box North side of parking lot”
Markets and convenience stores: “Simnasho – Three Warriors Market, Outside 24-hour drop box”

Washington’s list has a similarly diverse set of locations:

Park & Ride parking lots/mass transit stops: “Shoreline Park & Ride”
Fraternal organizations: “Lyle Remote Ballot Box. Lyle Lions Club parking lot”
Gas stations: “In front of Twin Totems Store between Highway 101 and the gas pumps.”

In the EVIC Local Election Official (LEO) Surveys, conducted nationally since 2018, LEOs have consistently told us that they consider improving turnout to be “part of their job” (see the results from our 2022 survey below). LEOs consider security, access, and equity when administering elections, and that includes how they place drop boxes.

Source: EVIC 2022 Survey Results, reported at the Bipartisan Policy Center Post Election Summit

We do not know the decision-making process used by each auditor, clerk, and election director in Oregon and Washington, but we are not surprised to see these diverse locations. A tool such as the Center for Inclusive Democracy’s Voting Location and Outreach Tool provides a nice illustration of the many different considerations that go into site selection.

Washington state reports detailed data on dropbox usage since 2013 (we are not aware of other states that provide this kind of detailed report). The percentage of ballots returned via drop box peaked at 73.1% in November 2020 and declined to 61.1% in the 2022 November general election. It is interesting and not fully understood why voters continue to prefer to use a drop box, even in Oregon and Washington where there is paid postage on the ballot return envelopes and ballots need only be postmarked by Election Day.

Why Attack Drop Boxes? What about Blue Boxes?

An attack on drop boxes in these States is similar to an after-hours attack on a polling place where ballots are being held. This is not the first time attacks have been made on drop boxes. In 2020, an estimated 100 ballots were destroyed by an arsonist in Los Angeles, and 35 ballots were damaged later that year in Boston in another arson attack.

There have also been attacks made on “blue boxes” – the familiar boxes used by the USPS that lack many of the security protections of drop boxes. In Lane County, Oregon, two blue box keys were recently stolen, However, these keys were probably not stolen to target ballots. The USPS has been battling stolen “arrow keys” for years. The keys are a gateway to mail theft (stealing checks, identity theft, etc.). This is a low-grade but persistent criminal activity.

Precisely because ballot drop boxes are generally more secure and lead to speedier processing of ballots by local officials, anyone stealing an arrow key is almost certainly aiming for mail other than ballots. This is what led officials in Lane County, Oregon to warn voters not to deposit ballots in the blue boxes.

Other Observations

Not all ballot drop boxes are equal. The drop boxes used in Multnomah County and Clark County are both manufactured by Vote Armor – Laserfab Inc (but are different models). We are not aware why fire suppression worked in one instance and not another.
Ballot Tracking is your friend! A recent report, co-authored by researchers at the USC Center for Inclusive Democracy and researchers at EVIC, points out the many advantages of ballot tracking systems, which improve voter confidence in ballot integrity and may improve turnout. This episode highlights once again how valuable ballot tracking can be to allow voters to confirm that their ballot was received and accepted.
Video surveillance of drop boxes is not legally required in Oregon or Washington. The only reason there was a video of the drop box in Multnomah is that the attack took place on the drop box next to the County office. While it may be desirable to have 24-hour video surveillance of all drop boxes, this may limit the locations, particularly in rural areas with less reliable internet access and potential challenges accessing power.
Legal penalties for tampering with ballot materials vary across States. The NCSL lists the legal prohibitions against tampering with ballot systems, and we were surprised to find that in at least seven states, this is only a misdemeanor. Professor Rick Hasen makes a strong argument in an essay at MSNBC that any number of federal statutes can and should be used to prosecute arson and elections-related violence.

Policy Recommendations

Violence of any kind is deplorable, but it is particularly dangerous during a hard-fought and contentious election less than four years after an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

It is encouraging that no one will be disenfranchised in Multnomah County, but there is a real possibility that some voters in Clark County will not realize that their ballots were destroyed.

We agree with Professor Rick Hasen that legal protections for election workers and penalizing ballot tampering need to be strengthened.

For most states with substantial numbers of by-mail voters, drop boxes are an important part of the election system. States and counties need to evaluate the security of their drop boxes and make sure that they are using infrastructure that meets the highest security standards. These boxes are not prohibitively expensive – we were told that the Vote Armor model costs approximately $6,000, and other drop boxes are in the same range.

While $6,000 is not expensive compared to some election infrastructure, it’s also not insignificant and may be cost-prohibitive in many jurisdictions, particularly in rural areas or in areas with smaller budgets.

We recommend that States provide funding so that all LEOs who want to use drop boxes can afford them, and that all current drop boxes in use be evaluated and if necessary replaced to meet appropriate security standards.

Drop boxes are here to stay. We are not experts in the manufacture and deployment of drop boxes, however, we believe that at a minimum, 24-hour video surveillance and/or other constant monitoring systems should be integrated into all drop boxes used in the United States.

We recommend that drop boxes with monitoring technologies, that can keep election officials apprised at all times of how many ballots have been deposited into a box and have video feeds to record activity around the boxes, be explored and put into use in all election jurisdictions using drop boxes for their by-mail voters.

We also recommend that LEOs, vendors, and the engineering community evaluate the fire protection integrated into drop boxes and make recommendations about best practices for fire suppression

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* Note: This posting will be updated as new information comes out. Please feel free to email the authors (linked in title) with any additional questions or information about this explainer, or contact us via our website at evic.reed.edu.