Early ballots burned in suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon | US elections 2024

Hundreds of early ballots for the US presidential election were burned in two suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon, raising tensions ahead of next Tuesday's crucial election campaign.

According to local media, firefighters went to the scene after smoke was seen coming from a ballot box in the city of Vancouver, Washington, at 6:30 a.m. Monday.

KATU, a local television station, reported capturing footage of emergency responders throwing a stack of burning ballots onto the site. The ballots continued to smolder after the flames were extinguished.

Hundreds of ballots were believed to have been inside when smoke billowed from the box, which was last emptied at 8am on Sunday. KATU reported that few of the ballots cast there afterward were saved.

The auditor for Clark County, the local agency that manages the drop boxes, said voters who voted after 11 a.m. could request new ballots through a link on the county's election website.

The fire was reported following a similar incident in nearby Portland, Oregon, where police said an incendiary device was set off in a ballot box near a building housing the Multnomah County elections department.

Security forces extinguished the fire before police arrived. The device was deactivated and removed by the local bomb squad.

The incidents came days after a U.S. Postal Service mailbox containing a small number of ballots was set on fire in Phoenix, Arizona, last Thursday.

The police arrested a 35-year-old man who is said to have confessed to the crime while in custody. They also said he told them that his actions were not politically motivated and that he committed the act with the intention of getting himself arrested.

The Guardian has reported that far-right anti-voter groups supporting Donald Trump have been monitoring ballot drop boxes as part of their activities in the run-up to next week's election, as officials brace for disruptions and challenges to vote counts.