# Fire in a ballot drop box

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-a-ballot-drop-box/923926>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [October 26, 2020, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-a-ballot-drop-box/923926 "2020-10-26T12:01:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-a-ballot-drop-box/923926/1 "2020-10-26T12:01:54Z")

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Here is possibly a new twist in voter suppression. Early yesterday morning there was a fire in a ballot drop box in Boston

> [@](#):
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> Federal authorities are investigating a fire that was set inside a ballot drop box in Boston early Sunday morning after being notified by the state’s secretary of state.
> 
> The Boston elections department notified Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin on Sunday about a fire that was set at about 4 a.m. inside a ballot drop box outside the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, according to Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s office. City officials last collected ballots from the drop box at 2:29 p.m. Saturday.
> 
> The Boston Police Department [is conducting an arson investigation](https://bpdnews.com/news/2020/10/25/bpd-investigating-ballot-box-fire-in-the-area-of-700-boylston-street-in-boston) into the fire and is working to identify a person caught on surveillance footage igniting something at the drop box. Firefighters extinguished the fire by filling the ballot box with water.

Apparently about 87 ballots are still readable, out of perhaps 122 in the box.

It could be a case of random vandalism, but in this volatile election, I’m gonna suspect deliberate intent.

> **[Feds Investigating Fire Set Inside Ballot Drop Box In Boston](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/massachusetts-asks-fbi-investigate-fire-ballot-drop-box_n_5f95f03dc5b673c60824dbe5)**
>
> Election officials said about 122 ballots were inside the drop box that was set on fire early Sunday morning. Some 87 are still legible.

Not that this is the first case of this:  
The Boston incident is believed to be the second suspected arson attack on a ballot drop box in a week.

> [@](#):
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> Someone set a fire inside an official ballot collection box outside a public library in Baldwin Park, California, on Oct. 18. Officials said the individual dropped a flaming piece of newspaper into the ballot box that evening.

I saw a confrontation between Defend the Police sign wavers and Black Lives Matter supporters here yesterday. I hadn’t seen such a dramatic manifestation of conflicting beliefs here before.

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**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fire-in-a-ballot-drop-box/923926/3 "2020-10-26T19:57:17Z")

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Update - they arrested a man. Doesn’t seem to be a Trump supporter, just a guy with mental issues, if his posts on (redacted) are any indication.