Smoke then sparks erupt from Vancouver ballot box in quick incendiary attack, new footage shows

As investigators continue searching for a man who set fire to ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver, Washington, new security footage provides some details on the attacks.

The suspect, whom Portland Police Bureau officials recently identified as a male in his 30s or 40s, affixed an incendiary device to the ballot box in Vancouver and set it off all within less than a minute, the security footage showed.

A dark-colored sedan was captured arriving at the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center box a little after 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 28. Footage showed a glow against the driver’s side window. About half a minute later, the driver pulls away as smoke begins emanating from the box.

Seconds after the suspect leaves, a blast lit up the camera feed and sparks showered from the box. The fire suppression system inside failed to extinguish the blaze, Clark County elections officials said, and hundreds of ballots burned.

The footage does not capture much detail about the vehicle or driver. Four separate cameras at the transit center showed the vehicle entering and leaving but none offered much view into the vehicle. OPB obtained the videos from C-TRAN, the Clark County public transit agency, through a records request.

Investigators said Wednesday they believe the suspect is acting alone. A Portland Police Bureau spokesperson confirmed to OPB that the east Vancouver attack occurred first that day, indicating that investigators believe the suspect may have driven from Vancouver to the second attack in inner Southeast Portland.

Portland officers responded to a fire at the ballot box on Southeast Morrison Street about an hour later at 3:30 a.m. Unlike the earlier box, however, the Morrison Street box’s fire suppression canister worked and saved many of the ballots, officials said.

Investigators believe the suspect has a “wealth of expertise in metal fabrication and welding,” PPB spokesperson Mike Benner said in a recent press conference.

The suspect is said to have short hair or balding, a thin-to-medium build, a thin face and wearing a dark shirt. The car has been identified as a dark-colored Volvo S-60 made between 2001 and 2004. Investigators said the car did not have a front license plate.

The camera that captured the footage is a dome-shaped panoramic camera that captures multiple angles from the same location. C-TRAN installed them in 2016, according to a spokesperson.