A U.S. Postal Service mailbox full of mail-in ballots in Phoenix, Arizona was set on fire early Thursday morning, damaging several of the ballots and other pieces of mail. According to the Phoenix Fire Department, approximately 20 of the ballots were damaged, while the Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes' office said the number of affected ballots was still in flux.
The mailbox was a drive-up collection box at a post office in Phoenix, which leans Democratic in what is now a purple battleground state. Recent polling shows former President Donald Trump holding a small lead over Vice President Kamala Harris there.
While mail-in ballots became a popular method of submitting votes during COVID-19, federal authorities have since warned those ballots could be lost or damaged in transit. At the same time, claims promoted by some GOP officials that mail-in voting is opens up the possibility of massive voter fraud have long been debunked.
Fire Department spokesperson Rob McDade said that the fire has since been extinguished and the site reopened. Authorities are investigating surveillance footage and the local postal Inspector took possession of the damaged mail, but neither the perpetrator nor his motive has been identified.
Fontes, a Democrat, said he was "deeply troubled by the arson attack."
“This deliberate act of vandalism undermines the integrity of our democratic process," he said in a statement. "We have sent fire suppression equipment to the counties across Arizona to prevent such incidents and protect our electoral process."
