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)

The death of Catherine O'Hara at 71 prompted an outpouring from the actor's co-stars and friends over the decades. O'Hara, whose legendary comic skills were on display in “Home Alone,” “Schitt's Creek,” “Beetlejuice" and much more, died Friday in Los Angeles after a brief illness.

“Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later” — the actor, who played O’Hara’s son in two “Home Alone” movies, on Instagram.

“Catherine O’Hara brought love and light to our world, through whipsmart compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed...such a loss for her family and friends, and the audience she graced as friends.” — the actor, who co-starred with O'Hara in “Heartburn,” in a statement.

“We go back before the first Beetlejuice. She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend. This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her.” — the actor, on Instagram.

“Really don’t know what to say… I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen. Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies. Getting to work with her was a true honour. She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous… she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.” — “The Studio” creator and star, on Instagram.

“Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful. There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always. Always” — the actor, who worked with O’Hara on the second season of “The Last of Us,” on Instagram.

“Catherine O’Hara changed how so many of us understand comedy and humanity. From the chaos and heart of Home Alone to the unforgettable precision of Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek, she created characters we’ll rewatch again and again.” — the comedian and actor, on social media.

“I think she would prefer that we keep laughing somehow, or at the very least not cry. Not possible at the moment. As brutal as this feels for anyone who knew or worked with her, I know it is far more painful for her husband and sons and close family. I’m thinking about them right now too. It all hurts terribly. Goodbye, you legend... you wonderful, brilliant, kind, beautiful human being. We were lucky to have had you at all.” — the “The Last of Us” showrunner, on Instagram.

“I am devastated. We have lost one of the comic giants of our age. I send my love to her family.” — the actor and director, who collaborated with O’Hara on four films, in a statement.

"She was the kindest and the classiest. How could she also have been the funniest person in the world? And she was at the very top of her game. There won’t be another like her." — the Canadian director and actor, on Instagram.

"This is shattering news. What a wonderful person, artist and collaborator. I was lucky enough to direct, produce and act in projects with her and she was simply growing more brilliant with each year. My heart goes out to Bo & family." — the actor and director, on Instagram.

“I never in a million years thought I would get to work with Catherine O’Hara let alone become friends with her. So profoundly sad she’s somewhere else now, So incredibly grateful I got to spend the time I did with her. Thank you Catherine I love you.” — the actor, a co-star in “The Studio,” on Instagram.

"Catherine O’Hara — a woman who was authentic and truthful in all she did. You saw it in her work, if you knew her you saw it in her life, and you saw it in her family. Bo, Luke and Matthew, our deepest sympathies. May Catherine rest in peace. May her memory be eternal. — the actor, director and producer, on Instagram.

FILE - Former cast members of SCTV, from left, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, foreground, Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy and Martin Short, pose at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival on March 6, 1999, in Aspen, Colo. (AP Photo/E Pablo Kosmicki, File)

FILE - Catherine O'Hara poses for photographers upon arrival at the UK premiere of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)