PORTLAND, Ore. — Three vote drop box fires happened in the Pacific Northwest in 2024. FBI agents said Thursday that the devices used to start the fires were made of a “very volatile mix” of thermite and scrap metal.
“Thermite devices are made of metal shavings and iron oxide,” Special Agent in Charge Doug Olson told reporters at a news conference at the FBI’s Portland field office. “They can burn as hot as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,204 Celsius”). He said that the guy who made them welded together scrap metal for the outside and put thermite inside. He also said that thermite is easy to make.
In charge, Special Agent W. Mike Herrington said, “We’re very worried that this person may hurt himself or others if he keeps playing around with thermite.” “On top of the dangers they pose to people, these devices can do a lot of damage to homes, storage areas, and testing sites like forests and fields.”
As of now, the police think the suspect is a guy, but Herrington said there is a “slight possibility” that the suspect is a woman. The police officers said they were also open to the idea that the suspect might have a partner, but they didn’t have any proof of that.
The police said they were not sure if the suspect was still in the area.
Authorities want people to share information if they know of anyone who stores metal bits in a way that can’t be explained or who has a “unusual interest” in learning about thermite, welding metals, or collecting small metal scraps. The agents said that burn damage to a home, storage area, or wilderness area could also give hints, as could more people wanting to know more about the case.
A week before Election Day, on Oct. 28, a vote box was set on fire in Portland, Oregon, and one in Vancouver, Washington, which is right next door. Officials called it an attack on democracy. There were a lot of close U.S. House races in Vancouver at the time of the fire in the drop box, which damaged hundreds of votes.
The Portland drop box had a fire suppression device that kept most of the ballots from getting burned. Only three of the votes inside were broken.
There was also a fire suppression system inside the Vancouver vote box, but it wasn’t enough to keep hundreds of ballots from getting. The Clark County auditor’s office says that election workers were able to spot nearly 500 damaged ballots that were taken from the box.
A fire in a Vancouver drop box on October 8 did not damage any votes. Vancouver, which is the largest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, was the site of a close House race between Republican Joe Kent and Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who was running for a second term.
The suspect was originally described by police as a man who might have experience with metalworking or welding. They said he was a white guy between the ages of 30 and 40 who was going bald or had very short hair.
Help the FBI figure out what kind of car the suspect is driving. A dark-colored Volvo S-60 sedan from early 2003 to 2004 was seen on surveillance cameras. However, at the time of the most recent vote box fires on Oct. 28 in Portland and Vancouver, it had a fake temporary Washington license plate on the back and no front plate, according to the bureau.
The inside of the car was light, the trim was worn, there was a sunroof, and the wheels were dark aftermarket. The front grill didn’t have the Volvo logo that’s usually there, but Herrington said the suspect may have since fixed or changed some parts. It’s also possible that the suspect sold or got rid of the car, he said.
Agents asked anyone who knows someone who recently got rid of or stopped using a Volvo that fits the description to share any information they might have.
The Oct. 28 explosives had the message “Free Gaza” written on them, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press but asked to remain anonymous because they were not allowed to talk about an ongoing investigation. They said that a third device put in a different drop box in Vancouver on October 8 had the words “Free Palestine” on it as well as “Free Gaza.”
A source said that the police are trying to figure out if the suspect really supported the Palestinians or just sent the message to confuse them.
There is a prize of up to $25,000 from the FBI for information about the suspect.
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