It happened fast. Around 4:00 a.m. on a Monday in late October 2024, the pre-dawn quiet at the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center was shattered. A ballot drop box—a heavy, steel symbol of civic duty—was suddenly spewing smoke and flames.
By the time the Vancouver Police and fire crews arrived, the damage was gut-wrenching. Hundreds of ballots were scorched. Some were just ash.
Honestly, it’s the kind of thing you don’t think will happen in your backyard until it does. This wasn’t just a random act of vandalism. It was a targeted, sophisticated attack using improvised incendiary devices designed to burn hot and fast. While a similar attempt in nearby Portland was mostly thwarted by a fire suppression system, the Clark County ballot box fire became a national flashpoint for election security fears.
The Morning the Ballots Burned
The timing couldn't have been worse. We were just days away from a high-stakes election. When the box at the transit center was opened, the sight was grim. Responders pulled out a smoldering pile of papers.
Greg Kimsey, the Clark County Auditor who has seen a lot in his years, called it a "direct attack on democracy." He wasn't exaggerating.
Here is the raw data on the damage:
- 488 damaged ballots were eventually recovered from the debris.
- 6 ballots were so badly burned they couldn't be identified at all.
- An unknown number of ballots were completely vaporized into ash.
- The last pickup at that location had been at 11:00 a.m. the previous Saturday.
If you had dropped your ballot off during that window, there was a very real chance your vote was currently sitting in a forensic lab instead of a counting machine.
Who Was Behind the Attack?
The FBI didn't take long to start connecting dots. It turns out this wasn't an isolated "one-off" event. The devices used in the Clark County ballot box fire were remarkably similar to those found at another box in Vancouver on October 8 and one in Portland on October 28.
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Investigators described a suspect who knew exactly what they were doing. We're talking about someone with "wealth of experience" in metal fabrication and welding. The devices were made of a volatile mix of thermite and scrap metal.
Thermite is no joke. It burns at roughly 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The FBI and local police started hunting for a specific vehicle: a dark-colored 2001-2004 Volvo S-60. It had no front license plate and a fraudulent temporary Washington plate on the back. Surveillance footage caught a glimpse of the driver—a white male, roughly 30 to 40 years old, with thinning hair.
There were also messages found on the devices. "Free Gaza" and "Free Palestine" were scrawled on the casings. However, investigators haven't been quick to jump to conclusions about a motive. They’ve been looking into whether the suspect actually held those views or was using the slogans as a "false flag" to stir up more division.
Why Did the Fire Suppression Fail?
One of the biggest questions people asked was: "Wait, don't these boxes have extinguishers inside?"
Yes. They do.
Both the Portland and Vancouver boxes were manufactured by the same company, Vote Armor. They are equipped with automatic fire suppression units. In Portland, the system worked perfectly. It triggered, extinguished the heat, and only three ballots were damaged.
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In Vancouver? Total failure.
The fire burned through the suppression system before it could do its job. It's a terrifying thought—that a system designed for safety could simply be overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of a thermite-based fire. Since then, Clark County has basically overhauled how they handle these boxes.
How Clark County Responded
You have to give credit to the election workers. They didn't just sit around and wait for the FBI. Within days, they were reaching out to the 488 voters they could identify from the damaged scraps.
They sent out replacement ballots immediately. They called, they emailed, they did everything they could to make sure those voices weren't silenced by an arsonist.
But the long-term changes are what really matter for future elections.
New Security Protocols
Clark County didn't just replace the box; they changed the whole game.
- 24-Hour Surveillance: The county started paying over $130,000 to have human observers watch every single drop box around the clock through the end of the election cycle.
- Increased Pickups: Instead of letting ballots sit overnight, workers started collecting them late in the evening. The goal was simple: keep the boxes as empty as possible during the hours when an arsonist is most likely to strike.
- Upgraded Technology: By mid-2025, the county implemented new, more robust fire suppression systems and expanded their facility to include better transparency and camera coverage.
What You Should Do Now
If you live in Southwest Washington or anywhere that uses drop boxes, it’s easy to feel a bit paranoid. But honestly, the system is more resilient than it looks.
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The biggest takeaway from the Clark County ballot box fire isn't that drop boxes are "unsafe"—it's that we have tools to catch these issues.
Check your ballot status. Most states, including Washington, have a tracking portal (like votewah.gov). If you drop your ballot off, wait 24 to 48 hours and check the site. If it doesn't say "Received" or "Accepted," call the auditor's office.
Don't wait until the last minute. If you drop your ballot off a week early, you have plenty of time to get a replacement if something goes wrong. If you wait until 7:59 p.m. on Election Night and someone targets your box, you’re in a much tougher spot.
Consider the location. If you’re truly worried, you can always drop your ballot off directly at the County Elections Office or a high-traffic area that is more likely to have active security.
Election security is a moving target. As long as there are people trying to disrupt the process, there will be new tech and new protocols to stop them. The 2024 fire was a wake-up call, but it also proved that even a 4,000-degree fire couldn't stop the vote from being counted.
Next Steps for Voters:
To ensure your vote is secure in future elections, sign up for automated text or email alerts through your state’s election portal. This gives you a real-time "receipt" the moment your ballot is processed by officials. If you're in Clark County, keep an eye on the Auditor's website for updates on any temporary drop box closures or new high-security collection sites.