By GENE JOHNSON

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Police said Monday that a “suspicious vehicle” has been identified in connection with incendiary devices that set ballot boxes on fire in Oregon and Washington state.

Surveillance footage captured a Volvo pulling into a drop box in Portland, Oregon, just before nearby security personnel discovered a fire inside the box on Monday, the door said -Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner during a press conference.

That fire damaged three ballots inside, while officials say a fire at a drop box near Vancouver, Washington, destroyed hundreds of ballots Monday morning. The devices were attached to the outside of the boxes, police said.

Authorities said at a news conference in Portland that enough material from the incendiary devices had been recovered to show that Monday’s two fires were related — and that they were also linked to an incident on Oct. 8, when an incendiary device was placed during a different election. drop box in Vancouver.

“Heartbreaking,” said Greg Kimsey, a longtime elected auditor in Clark County, Washington, which includes Vancouver. “This is a direct attack on democracy.”

The Washington and Oregon ballot drop boxes both have fire suppression systems designed to activate when the temperature inside reaches a certain point, coating the ballots inside a fire-fighting powder.

The system appeared to have worked at the Portland drop box and security guards were nearby to help put out the fire. Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said the county has hired private security guards to organize “roving patrols” who travel the county 24 hours a day and “monitor” all drop boxes.

He said one of the guards was at the county election office, heard what sounded like an explosion — likely the activation of the fire suppression system — and called police.

For unknown reasons, the system failed to prevent the destruction of hundreds of ballots in Vancouver, just across the Columbia River from Portland.

Vancouver is the largest city in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, the site of what should be one of the closest American House races in the country, between Democratic Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and her Republican challenger Joe Kent.

“I hope that the perpetrator of this wrongdoing is quickly apprehended – and that local and federal law enforcement will have my full support in working to keep our democratic process safe and secure,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement .

She said she is requesting a nightly law enforcement presence posted at all Clark County polls through Election Day.

“Southwest Washington cannot risk losing a single vote to arson and political violence,” his statement said.

Representatives for Kent’s campaign did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.

The Portland Police Bureau said the fire was reported around 3:30 a.m. Multnomah County Elections said only three ballots were damaged and the office planned to contact those voters to help them obtain replacement ballots.

Hours later, Vancouver television crews filmed footage of smoke billowing from a ballot box at a transit center.

Surveillance cameras covered the drop box and surrounding area, Kimsey said.

The final ballot pickup at the transit center drop box was at 11 a.m. Saturday, Kimsey said. Anyone who subsequently cast their ballot there was invited to contact the auditor’s office to obtain a new one.

The office will increase the frequency of ballot collection, Kimsey said, and change collection times to evenings, to prevent drop boxes from remaining full of ballots overnight, when similar crimes are considered more likely to occur.

An incendiary device was also found on or near a ballot box in downtown Vancouver early on October 8. He did not damage the ballot box or destroy any ballots, police said.

In a statement, the FBI said it was coordinating with its federal, state and local partners to actively investigate both incidents. Anyone with information is asked to contact the nearest FBI office, provide information via tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324).