Authorities investigate ballot box burning in northwest US

Police in the states of Oregon and Washington, in the northwest of the United States, are investigating this Monday the fire of several ballot boxes that burned with hundreds of early voting ballots inside just over a week before the elections .

The Portland Police Department in Oregon announced that it has opened an investigation after discovering “an incendiary device inside a ballot box on the sidewalk in the Central City district” last night.

A similar incident was reported shortly after in Vancouver, Washington, where an early voting ballot box “was smoking and on fire,” the Metropolitan Police Department said.

Images shared on social media show several officers trying to put out the flames while trying to rescue hundreds of ballots deposited inside the mailbox. Some of them appear completely burned, although the exact number of votes affected is not yet known.

Authorities are not sure if the two incidents, which occurred within hours of each other, are related, and no arrests or suspects have been identified.

Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous county, is key to determining who wins in this state, where Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are virtually tied.