Monday’s attack on ballot drop boxes in Vancouver and Portland is an appalling act of treason. All who believe in the exceptionalism of the United States’ democratic process should loudly rebuke election-related violence and decry efforts to undermine our votes.
As of this writing, there is no information regarding the perpetrators of the attacks and few details about how those attacks were carried out. But media reports indicated that ballots were damaged at a Fisher’s Landing drop box, and The Columbian reported: “The Clark County Auditor’s Office said hundreds of ballots were in the drop box, which had last been emptied by elections workers 11 a.m. Saturday.”
That followed the discovery of a suspicious device at a box in downtown Vancouver three weeks ago.
Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said his office would alter collection procedures to reduce the number of ballots left in boxes overnight. That is a reasonable response, and officials should consider any additional measures to keep ballots safe.
But a larger issue surrounds the increasing normalization of violence as legitimate political discourse. Threats against election workers and against the foundational elements of free and fair elections have increased in recent years, reflecting the enmity surrounding our nation’s politics.
That enmity reached its nadir with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump attempted to halt certification of the 2020 presidential election. There is no telling whether Monday’s local attacks were carried out in support of one political faction or the other – or whether they were politically motivated at all – but they represent rancor that is a serious threat to our nation.
The right to vote and to have those votes accurately counted is the basis of the United States’ representative democracy. As Alexander Hamilton is credited with writing: “A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections is one of the most important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law.”
There is irony that the Founding Fathers who believed in the right to vote limited that right to land-owning white males. In the centuries since, many have worked and some have died in noble efforts to extend voting to women and to people of color. Those efforts have brought our nation closer to the ideals it long has professed, and we must not allow violent acts of dissent to erase that progress.
That is the concern here. While attempts to burn ballots and disenfranchise voters can be seen as isolated incidents that have little lasting impact, we must not dismiss the dangers that are facing our democracy at this unique moment in time. We also must not ignore the need to ensure that elections are free of widespread fraud and that security measures bolster the faith of the public regarding election integrity.
Despite rhetoric to the contrary, American elections are being conducted transparently and accurately. It is notable that in 2020, as Trump was scheming to overthrow the will of the people, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said, “We have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
That must be repeated often as Americans work to defend their democracy against lies and violence. And it must be echoed as we prepare for a consequential election one week from today.
Voting in that election is a powerful way to stand up against those who would violate our right to do so.
