Fire Again at US Ballot Drop Box... FBI Investigation Underway

Fire Occurs in Ballot Drop Box in Boston Following LA Incident

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The FBI has launched an investigation into a fire that broke out at a ballot drop box in Boston. As the early voting trend spreads across the United States, attention is focused on whether additional incidents of ballot drop box vandalism will follow.

According to the Associated Press, on Sunday, the 25th (local time), a fire suspected to be arson occurred at a ballot drop box set up outside the Boston Public Library. Election officials stated that approximately 120 ballots were damaged as a result.

American voters are placing ballots into ballot drop boxes. [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh expressed concern over the fire, calling it "a disgrace to democracy and a crime against voters fulfilling their civic duty."

He added, "Any act that undermines or tampers with the process of maintaining election integrity and ensuring transparency and trust must be punished."

The election commission requested voters who used the ballot drop box before the fire to verify that their ballots were not affected.

For voters whose ballots were damaged, the election commission explained that they could either vote in person or use replacement ballots to vote by mail. If no re-voting occurs, the damaged ballots will be counted as is. The election commission stated that they will include ballots in the tally as long as they can be identified.

This is not the first incident of ballot drop box vandalism in this election. A week ago, someone deliberately set fire to a ballot drop box installed outside a library in the Los Angeles area, and the judicial authorities also launched an investigation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.