October 27. On October 26, local time, a man in the United States was accused of arson and burning a ballot box in Boston, which contained more than 120 ballots.
According to the Associated Press report on October 27, the police said that 39-year-old Boston resident Armand set fire to a ballot box outside the Boston Public Library in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood on the evening of the 25th. Armand was detained by the police a few hours later. According to reports, after the ballot box caught fire, the anti-narcotics team patrolmen saw Armand match the suspect who was looking for and arrested him.
According to reports, this is the second ballot box fire in the United States this month. Authorities said last week that a fire in a ballot box in Los Angeles County is also under investigation for arson.
The FBI spokesperson in Boston declined to comment on whether officials believe the two fires are related.
According to the police, the police who rushed to the scene saw smoke from the ballot box, and firefighters immediately poured water into the box to extinguish the fire.
Election officials said there were 122 ballots in the ballot box before, 87 of which were still clearly visible, and most of the 35 damaged ballots were intact and should be identifiable. Five to ten of them were badly damaged and unrecognizable.
The head of elections in Massachusetts stated that he had instructed local officials to strengthen the security of ballot boxes, equipped with special guards and video surveillance, and frequently emptied the ballot boxes.
The FBI stated that they are investigating the case and urged the public to “keep vigilant and report any suspicious activity related to the election.”
Election officials said voters can check online to see if their votes have been processed.
Those voters who used the ballot box to vote between the afternoon of October 24 and 4 a.m. on the 25th should contact the Boston Election Department immediately if they cannot confirm their ballot status online.
Voters whose ballots are affected can vote in person or by mailing new ballots to them. If these voters do not submit new ballots, “their original ballots will be counted manually as much as possible.”
