Hundreds of Ballots were destroyed early Monday morning. Investors believe that the fires were connected to another attempted ballot box fire earlier this month on Oct. 8th.

Around 3am on Monday, Portland Police responded to one of the fires outside the Multnomah County elections office. By the time police arrived security guards had already put out the fire. Another fire outside Fisher’s Landing Transit Center in Vancouver started around 4:30am on Monday.

Police told reporters that the ballots were burned by a device that could be attached to the ballot box, and could then heat the ballots inside to the point that they caught fire.

In an Interview with OPB news, Mike Banner, a spokesperson with Portland Police, said “There was enough evidence collected at all three scenes that lead us to believe that all three incidents are connected” (VanderHart, Oct. 28th)

After the attacks, the Vancouver and Portland police said they would have more patrols around ballot boxes. “We have developed a plan to ensure that we are keeping an eye on the boxes as much as possible with increased patrols,” said Troy Price, who is Vancouver’s interim police chief during an interview with reporters (VanderHart, Oct. 28th.).

Clark County elections officials also said they would pick up ballots more often.

The FBI is currently investigating the fires (Strack, Oct. 28th).