On Oct. 24, Phoenix police arrested a man in connection with a central Phoenix postal box fire that damaged mail-in ballots. The 35-year-old man was booked on suspicion of arson, a felony count, according to police.
Was this a politically motivated action related to the election? Authorities say no.
The drive-up collection box was at the U.S. post office on Seventh Avenue near Indian School Road, according to the Phoenix Fire Department. Police said the fire occurred at about 12:40 a.m. Oct. 24.
Firefighters forced open the box and extinguished the fire, a spokesperson for the department said. The number of ballots damaged was not known, they said.
The incident differed from what happened Oct. 28 in Portland and nearby Vancouver, Washington, when incendiary devices were set off at two ballot drop boxes , destroying hundreds of ballots in the process, the Associated Press reported.
The attacks on Oregon and Washington ballots disrupted the electoral process and were “a direct attack on democracy,” one official said.