On Oct. 28 at 2:30 AM, just a week before election day, a camera outside a ballot box in Vancouver, WA, caught a car pulling up to the dropbox for about thirty seconds before driving away. Twenty seconds later, the box began emitting smoke, and then erupted in a burst of light. This was one of two ballot box fires on that Monday morning in the Pacific Northwest.

The first fire occurred in Portland, OR, thirty minutes before the video footage in Vancouver, and only 3 ballots were damaged due to fire suppressant inside the box. The Vancouver ballots weren’t as lucky; due to a failure in their fire suppression system, nearly 500 ballots were destroyed. The ones remaining were either damaged or very wet. Portland authorities are claiming that both events are connected, due to the similar materials used to make both incendiary devices, as well as one in another box in Vancouver that never went off.

Both devices in Vancouver and Portland were marked with the words “Free Gaza.” A device dropped in Vancouver earlier in the month held this statement as well, along with the words “Free Palestine.” Authorities have questioned if all three devices might have been set by the same person.

The FBI is continuing to investigate these incidents. Authorities have reported that the person they are looking for is a 30 to 40 year old white male with balding or short hair and a medium to thin build. He likely has experience with metal fabrication and welding due to the experience demonstrated by the detail of the incendiary devices. The Crime Stoppers of Oregon are offering $2,500 for information leading to his arrest. The man was driving a 2001-2004 Volvo S-60 with no front license plate. The car did have a back plate, but it is reported to have had no distinguishable numbers or letters. It seems weird that there were no cameras that caught the plate numbers, or a clear shot of the man’s face, but it was very early in the morning and still dark, which is likely what the suspect was counting on when setting these fires.