A California ballot box was set on fire. Could that happen in the Boise area too?
Once you put your ballot in an Ada County drop box, it is most likely not going to catch on fire.
That concern may not have even crossed most voters’ minds, but such a fire happened in a Los Angeles suburb last weekend. Someone shoved a burning newspaper into a ballot box, setting the box’s contents aflame outside a library. Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said the incident had “all the signs of an attempt to disenfranchise voters.”
Firefighters put the fire out, local news outlets reported, but dozens of ballots — more than 200, according to some reports — were believed to be inside. Officials have been working to send affected voters new ballots.
In Ada County, ballot drop boxes have a fire-suppression system designed to prevent exactly that kind of problem. They’re also monitored by cameras 24 hours a day, Chelsea Carattini, spokesperson for the Ada County elections office, told the Statesman.
“We have installed two fire suppression devices in each drop box,” she said. “The device triggers a fuse that suppresses fire when it comes into contact with a flame.”
The suppression system is new for this election and was installed at the end of September. Elections offices around the country have implemented drop boxes with similar features to cut down on the potential for damage to ballots.
Ada County has five ballot drop boxes. One is outside the Ada County Elections Office at 400 N. Benjamin in Boise. The others are outside Eagle, Meridian, Kuna and Boise city halls.
In Ada County, most of the boxes are cleared out twice a day on weekdays and once daily on weekends. The weekend before the election, boxes will be cleared out twice a day. The exception is the Kuna drop box, which — due to a lower volume of voters — is cleared once a day.
That’s needed, officials say. With a record number of people registering to vote this year, more people than ever are requesting absentee ballots. Clearing the boxes frequently helps cut down on the number to check in and process each time, Chad Houck, chief deputy secretary of state, told the Statesman.
Idaho’s elections are largely decentralized, and there is no requirement in Idaho that drop boxes have specific security measures. Many counties have moved to steel boxes that are anchored to the ground, Houck said.
“We administer, but we don’t run the elections themselves,” he said. “That’s why counties have different layouts, different numbers of polling locations and so on.”
In Canyon County, voters don’t use a drop box — instead, voters looking to drop off absentee ballots can hand them to the elections staff at 1102 E. Chicago St. in Caldwell during business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, or drop them into a mail slot near the front door accessible 24 hours a day. Joe Decker, spokesperson for Canyon County, said the building has a fire safety system.
Ada County voters can use the boxes to return ballots until 8 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots that arrive late will not be counted.
Voting absentee, either by dropping your ballot in the mail or in a drop box, is considered by elections officials to be just as secure as voting in person. Elections officials compare signatures on envelopes with those on file, scan envelopes to make sure they match what’s on file, and store ballots in a secured, constantly monitored cage until they are counted.
If a ballot were damaged beyond the ability to be checked in and counted, a voter would have the chance to cast another ballot. In Idaho, tampering with ballots in any way, including attempting to “fraudulently destroy” them, is considered a felony and can come with up to five years in prison per count.
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