FBI offers $25K reward for info on ballot box fires

The FBI as of Thursday was offering $25,000 for any information about the perpetrator of three arson attacks on ballot drop box locations in Oregon and Washington. Only one perpetrator was behind the attacks, FBI investigators now believe.

What details have police released about the attacks? The first attack took place on Oct. 8 in Vancouver, Wash. That attack did not compromise the ballot drop box, the city of Vancouver said in a statement that day. On Oct. 28, new attacks hit ballot drop boxes in both Vancouver and Portland, Ore. Those later attacks destroyed hundreds of ballots. On both dates, the perpetrator planted improvised incendiary devices on the ballot drop boxes.

What do authorities know about this suspect? Authorities believed the suspect to be a 30- to 40-year-old white male with thinning hair, the FBI said. He drove a 2003-2004 Volvo S-60 Sedan to the scene of both crimes—once with a fake Washington license plate. He may have some experience with metalwork or welding, the FBI said.

Dig deeper: Read Travis K. Kircher’s report in The Sift about how a county in the swing state of Pennsylvania where some fraudulent voter registrations were forged.