About 475 damaged ballots retrieved from burned drop box in Washington state, auditor says

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — About 475 damaged ballots were retrieved from a ballot box that was burned early Monday in southwest Washington, a county official said Tuesday.

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said workers on Wednesday will begin searching through the damaged ballots for voter information in order to contact them about getting a new ballot. He said officials believe that although damaged, the workers will be able to pull voter information from the ballots.

The damaged ballots are separate from an unknown number that were destroyed, Kimsey said.

Incendiary devices damaged and destroyed hundreds of ballots at a drop box in Vancouver, Washington, and damaged three ballots at a box in Portland, Oregon, in what federal, state and local officials have decried as an attack on democracy before a heated Election Day.

Authorities have said that enough material from the incendiary devices was recovered to link the two fires on Monday, as well as an Oct. 8 incident, when an incendiary device was placed at a different ballot drop box in Vancouver. No ballots were damaged in that incident.

Surveillance images captured a Volvo pulling up to the drop box in Portland just before security personnel nearby discovered a fire inside the box, Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner has said. The incendiary devices were attached to the outside of the boxes.

The FBI is among the agencies investigating. U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman and Greg Austin, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Seattle field office, said in a joint statement Tuesday that they wanted to assure residents that they are working together to investigate the fires and will work to hold the person or people responsible “fully accountable.”

No arrests had been announced as of Tuesday evening.

The fire at the drop box in Portland was extinguished quickly thanks to a suppression system inside the box and a nearby security guard, police said.

Several hours later, another fire was discovered at a transit center drop box across the Columbia River in Vancouver. Vancouver is the biggest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, the site of what is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, between first-term Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republican challenger Joe Kent.

The ballot box in Vancouver also had a fire suppression system inside, but that failed to prevent hundreds of ballots from burning, according to Kimsey. He has urged voters who dropped their ballots in the transit center box after 11 a.m. Saturday to contact his office for a replacement ballot.

The office is increasing how frequently it collects ballots and changing collection times to the evening, Kimsey said, to keep the ballot boxes from remaining full of ballots overnight when similar crimes are considered more likely to occur.

Officials in at least two other counties in Washington — including in King County, where Seattle is located, — announced Tuesday that ballot drop boxes will be checked more often up until Election Day.

Election workers collect ballots from a newly placed ballot drop box outside the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A voter drops off a ballot for the 2024 election in a newly installed drop box at the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore., after the pervious drop box was damaged. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Police tape surrounds a ballot drop box damaged by a fire on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (Monika Spykerman/The Columbian via AP)

Police tape surrounds a ballot drop box damaged by a fire on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (Monika Spykerman/The Columbian via AP)

A damaged bin that was in a ballot drop box is displayed at the Multnomah County Elections Office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

In this image made from a video provided by KGW8, authorities investigate smoke pouring out of a ballot box on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (KGW8 via AP)

In this image made from a video provided by KGW8, authorities investigate smoke pouring out of a ballot box on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Vancouver, Wash. (KGW8 via AP)

A damaged ballot drop box is displayed during a news conference at the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A person drops off their 2024 election ballot at a newly installed drop box outside the Multnomah County Elections Division office on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement outside a New Jersey immigration detention center since late May have become the latest flashpoint for protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

More than 80 people have been arrested following a series of protests outside Delaney Hall in Newark, where demonstrators say they are showing up in solidarity with detainees inside over accusations of poor living conditions.

The Trump administration has defended the treatment given to detainees at the 1,000-bed facility.

Here's what to know:

The facility is owned by Geo Group, a private prison contractor that runs multiple detention centers across the country.

Detainees launched a hunger strike last month, according Cosecha, an immigrant advocacy group. They issued a number of handwritten letters from inside with their demands, including improved living conditions and better medical care, as they say some are being denied medication.

Detainees across the country have alleged medical neglect for serious and chronic conditions, and they have announced hunger strikes at other facilities.

The Delaney Hall detainees say they are being given moldy and expired food, some of it with maggots, and are housed in overcrowded cells that lack air conditioning. Democratic members of Congress from New York City visited the facility early in the protests and said the detainees' accounts are credible.

President Donald Trump and his deputies have defended the center’s operations and denied there is any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside.

“The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said recently. “This isn’t Holiday Inn.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, praised the food after a recent visit. “The spaghetti was good,” he told CBS News.

GEO Group has dismissed the criticisms as “a politically motivated campaign by outside groups to dismantle ICE and federal immigration detention by targeting the government’s facility contractors.”

The protesters, some wearing gas masks and helmets, have used traffic cones, trash cans and other items as makeshift shields, and they tried to block vehicles from entering or leaving the facility.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche shared images online of bloody wounds and bruises sustained by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Videos on social media show officers in riot gear deploying tear gas and using batons to beat back the demonstrators. Some videos have shown police on horseback marching into the crowds.

On Friday night, ICE officers arrested four on charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, obstruction and threats, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on X. Newark police, meanwhile, said they a Seattle man was charged with criminal mischief for smashing car windows.

"No one has the right to come into our city, destroy personal property, or incite violence,” Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda posted on social media. “Think twice before coming to Newark with any other agenda than to protest peacefully.”

One law enforcement official was charged with stealing $10,000 worth of camera equipment from an Associated Press photojournalist who had been injured while covering the standoff. The journalist, Angelina Katsanis, was struck in the knee by a wood beam during a clash between police and demonstrators. She sought medical attention and used a geo-tracking device to trace her missing gear to his home, the state’s attorney general said Thursday.

Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill was initially reluctant to intervene in the growing protests. But as the violence intensified, she declared the situation had “grown unsafe” and “unacceptable” and called in the state police to restore order.

State troopers set up designated protest zones and vehicle checkpoints as ICE officers who had been stationed in front of the detention center agreed to stand down.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, meanwhile, imposed a 9 p.m. curfew and sent in city police to enforce it.

But just a week later, the Democrat declared the city would be scaling back its police presence, saying arrests had dropped and he was reluctant to continue spending tax dollars to guard a privately owned facility.

The state’s attorney general this week filed a lawsuit against Geo Group, alleging the facility denied state health inspectors “full access” to investigate allegations.

Anti-ICE protesters disperse during clashes with law enforcement officers outside the Delaney Hall detention center on Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)