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pacific northwest
US Election Sabotage Fears Grow After Ballot Boxes Set Aflame
"Make no mistake, an attack on a ballot box is an attack on our democracy and completely unacceptable," said Oregon's secretary of state.
Oct 28, 2024
Law enforcement officials in the Pacific Northwest are investigating a pair of Monday morning fires at ballot drop boxes that have heightened concerns about illegal efforts to interfere with the November 5 elections.
One fire occurred around 3:30 am Pacific time on Southeast Morrison Street in Portland, Oregon. The Portland Police Bureau explained that "by the time officers arrived, the fire had already been extinguished by security personnel who work in the area. Officers determined an incendiary device was placed inside the ballot box and used to ignite the fire."
Multnomah County noted in a separate statement that "fire suppressant inside the ballot box protected virtually all the ballots," and the three voters whose ballots were damaged will be contacted by officials so they can receive replacements.
"Make no mistake, an attack on a ballot box is an attack on our democracy and completely unacceptable," declared Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade. "Whatever the motivation behind this incident, there is no justification for any attempt to disenfranchise voters."
Griffin-Valade, a Democrat, commended the Multnomah County Elections Division, thanked first responders, and stressed that the few impacted voters are being contacted, which "shows that our systems are safe and secure."
However, the other fire at Fisher's Landing Transit Center in Vancouver, Washington damaged up to hundreds of ballots. Clark County election officials are urging anyone who dropped off a ballot there after 11:00 am Pacific time on Saturday to contact them.
This year, at the national level, voters are set to choose the next president—Republican former President Donald Trump or Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris—and which party controls each chamber of Congress. There is a tight congressional contest in Washington's 3rd Congressional District, which includes Vancouver.
Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, is seeking a second term as the district's representative. Her Republican challenger is the same as the last cycle: Joe Kent.
In response to the apparent arson, Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman pointed out on social media that "in 2022, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D) only beat Joe Kent (R) here by 2,629 votes. The rematch is a toss-up."
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, stressed Monday that "we take the safety of our election workers seriously and will not tolerate threats or acts of violence that seek to undermine the democratic process."
"I strongly denounce any acts of terror that aim to disrupt lawful and fair elections in Washington state," he added. "Despite this incident, I have complete confidence in our county elections officials' ability to keep Washington's elections safe and secure for all voters."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that it "is coordinating with federal, state, and local partners to actively investigate the two incidents" and "anyone with information is asked to contact the nearest FBI office, provide information through tips.fbi.gov, or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324)."
As CNNreported Monday:
Last week, a mailbox outside a Phoenix post office was set on fire, damaging an unknown number of ballots. A 35-year-old man was charged with arson in connection with the incident. The Phoenix Police Department said he told them it was not politically motivated.
The fires come after the FBI and Department of Homeland Security recently issued a bulletin raising concerns [about] "election-related grievances," such as a belief in voter fraud, could motivate domestic extremists to engage in violence in the weeks before and after the November election.
In the intelligence bulletin obtained by CNN, the agencies said some domestic violent extremists likely see publicly accessible locations, including ballot drop boxes, as "attractive targets."
Throughout this cycle, Democrats and other Trump critics have expressed concern that the Republican nominee will refuse to accept defeat if Harris wins, emphasizing that after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden, he launched a series of unsuccessful legal challenges and incited the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump's campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday night further stoked such fears. Kathleen Belew, a Northwestern University associate professor of history who studies the U.S. white supremacist movement, asserted that at the event, "fascism is on full display, openly: no dog whistles, no plausible deniability."
The blazes at the ballot boxes sparked similar concerns. Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith said that "this is... spoiler alert... the Succession finale, itself drawn from nightmare election scenarios drawn up by wonks."
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Oregon County Sues Big Oil and 'Misinformation Agents' Over Deadly 2021 Heatwave
"The heat dome was a direct and foreseeable consequence of the defendants' decision to sell as many fossil fuel products over the last six decades as they could and to lie to the county, the public, and the scientific community."
Jun 22, 2023
Two years after what experts called the "world's most extreme heatwave in modern history" devastated the Pacific Northwest, Oregon's Multnomah County filed a lawsuit against several fossil fuel giants and "their misinformation agents" in state court.
"This lawsuit is about accountability and fairness, and I believe the people of Multnomah County deserve both. These businesses knew their products were unsafe and harmful, and they lied about it," said Jessica Vega Pederson, the county chair. "They have profited massively from their lies and left the rest of us to suffer the consequences and pay for the damages. We say enough is enough."
The complaint names fossil fuel companies including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and Shell, as well as the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and two trade associations: the American Petroleum Institute (API) and Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA).
The 2021 extreme heat event was linked to hundreds of deaths in the region and scientists said at the time it would have been "virtually impossible without human-caused climate change," which is notably driven by ongoing fossil fuel extraction and use.
"The heat dome that cost so much life and loss was not a natural weather event," the complaint stresses. "It did not just happen because life can be cruel, nor can it be rationalized as simply a mystery of God's will. Rather, the heat dome was a direct and foreseeable consequence of the defendants' decision to sell as many fossil fuel products over the last six decades as they could and to lie to the county, the public, and the scientific community about the catastrophic harm that pollution from those products into the Earth's and the county's atmosphere would cause."
In Multnomah County, the heatwave killed at least 69 people, caused property damage, and took a financial toll on local resources. The suit—which accuses the defendants of fraud, negligence, and creating a public nuisance—seeks $50 million in actual damages, $1.5 billion in future damages, and an abatement fund, estimated at $50 billion, to "weatherproof" the county.
"There are no new laws or novel theories being asserted here. We contend that the defendants broke long-standing ones, and we will prove it to a jury," said attorney and law professor Jeffrey Simon.
Along with his firm, Simon Greenstone Panatier, the county is represented by Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost as well as Worthington & Caron.
"What is new about this case," explained attorney Roger Worthington, "is how the leadership of Multnomah County is utilizing irrefutable climate science to hold corporate polluters accountable for their role in causing a discreet and disastrous event, as well as recent wildfires."
According to Worthington:
We will show that fossil fuel-induced global warming is already costing Oregonians lives and treasure. We will show that the normal use of fossil fuel products over time has imposed massive external, unpriced, and untraded social, economic, and environmental costs on the county. We will show that they were aware of this price, and instead of fully informing the public, they deceived us. And we will ask a jury to decide if it is fair to hold the polluters accountable for these avoidable and rising costs.
We are confident that, once we show what the fossil fuel companies knew about global warming and when, and what they did to deny, delay, and deceive the public, the jury will not let the fossil fuel companies get away with their reckless misconduct.
As some local groups responded to the filing by urging Multnomah County to also "help us fight dirty, dangerous, and inequitable fossil fuel development" in the region, the new legal action was widely welcomed by climate campaigners.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said that with this suit, "Multnomah County has joined the growing ranks of local governments that are standing up to Big Oil and fighting to make these polluters pay for the catastrophic damage they knowingly caused and lied about for decades."
"While other communities are seeking to hold Big Oil accountable for the costs of hurricanes, rising seas, and wildfires," he highlighted, "Multnomah County is the first to demand that oil companies stand trial for fueling the devastating 2021 heat dome, which claimed lives and wreaked havoc across the Pacific Northwest."
"Communities should not be forced to pay the price for these catastrophic climate damages while the companies that caused the crisis perpetuate their lies and rake in record profits," Wiles added. "The people of Multnomah County deserve their day in court to hold Big Oil accountable."
Lawsuits that aim to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its planet-wrecking products and lies aren't the only climate-related cases currently moving through U.S. courts; Delta Merner at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) on Thursday pointed to another legal battle—a historic climate trial in Montana, the result of 16 youth suing the state.
"Multnomah County residents are on the frontlines of devastating climate change impacts. Extreme heat and wildfires are taking a massive toll on the health, well-being, and livelihoods of community members and leaving scars that will last for generations," she said. "A growing body of attribution science is paving the way for real accountability, showing over and over that the fossil fuel industry bears a great deal of responsibility for the damage done. As the first constitutional climate lawsuit trial draws to a close in Montana, plaintiffs, advocates, and scientists are hopeful that our justice system will work effectively, informed by robust scientific evidence."
"Across the country and the world, climate litigation is helping communities resist the fossil fuel industry's attempts to further extend a dangerous, unjust, and destructive fossil fuel-dependent energy system and economy," added Merner, lead scientist at the UCS Science Hub for Climate Litigation. "While nothing can truly compensate for the lives lost, the homes destroyed, or the irreplaceable natural landscapes forever altered, legal avenues provide a glimmer of hope for justice. Climate litigation is a necessary mechanism to hold these corporations accountable for their callous disregard for the well-being of communities and the planet."
As DeSmognoted Thursday:
It is the first time that McKinsey & Company has been named as a defendant in a climate accountability lawsuit. It is also the first climate case to name the WSPA as a defendant; other climate cases filed by California communities have invoked the Big Oil trade association—which spent more than any other group lobbying in California last year—as a relevant nonparty.
McKinsey & Company has a sordid history of working with industries that have deliberately deceived the public about the harms of their products, from Big Tobacco to opioid manufacturers. The consulting firm has also served the fossil fuel industry.
Ben Franta, senior research fellow and head of the Climate Litigation Lab at the University of Oxford, suggested to DeSmog that firms that have done work for polluting industries may increasingly face such legal challenges.
"Fossil fuel majors have collaborated with ad agencies, public relations firms, and others over the decades to create misleading public communications campaigns," he said. "Much as the consulting firm McKinsey has faced liability in the context of opioid litigation, third parties beyond fossil fuel producers might conceivably face liability in the context of climate litigation."
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