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

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

  • j4k3@lemmy.world
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    25 days ago

    This is the Republican plan to steal the election. When does the civil war start? I give it 6 weeks before the first casualties pile in.

  • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works
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    25 days ago

    There need to be extraordinary penalties for threatening election workers, intimidating voters, or destroying ballots. How about a minimum 20 year sentence to start?

    • x00z@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      20 years?

      In many countries you get the death sentence for treason like this.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        So like Russia, China, North Korea… maybe these aren’t the best role models.

        I’d much prefer a rehabilitation system where they tried to make the arsonist a productive member of society and maybe bar them from whatever media was instigating the demand he take action.

      • FinishingDutch@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        I know, right? This sort of thing would get you a neat title like ‘enemy of democracy’ and a suitably unpleasant execution method. Like getting dropped from an aircraft into the ocean.

        It’s… probably… good the US doesn’t do it. But that’s definitely the sort of crime you should avoid anywhere outside of the US and Europe.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      I’m sorry, have you seen the j6 idiots?

      Do you honestly believe they can count to 20 even after taking off their socks?

      You can’t beat stupid, you can’t scare stupid, we need to just make voting one of those things they can’t get to easily, ie make the boxes like bank drops, or some other physical means.

      Rednecks gonna redneck.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      I was thinking life in prison, and we haul them out every year during election season to talk about why they attacked ballot boxes, what they were trying to do, and if their life was worth throwing away for it.

  • sarcasticsunrise@lemmy.world
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    25 days ago

    I hate that the Orwellian thought of ballot boxes requiring armed guards just entered my brain, because it just did. It goes against everything democracy is supposed to be, but this is where American fascism has led my thoughts to rot

    • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      With a sufficiently not-fucking-around response to the terrorists who did it, betcha won’t need guards.

      But America is gonna wrist slap nazis and say please.

      • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        You can’t prosecute the meth out of a redneck, America has tried for decades.

        There are people who have the basic mammalian capability for aversion association, and people who don’t, these morons are no more capable of learning than ants.

        Don’t bother trying to set an example, just use enforced attrition.

          • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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            24 days ago

            I think they’re referring to using punishment less as a deterrent to potential future offenders and more as a way of getting the people who prove themselves incapable of living in a civil society off of the streets. I don’t mean to speak for anyone, that was just my takeaway.

              • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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                24 days ago

                You got to Godwin’s Law territory in record time, there. I’m talking about throwing the book at literal fucking terrorists.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  24 days ago

                  See that’s setting an example, which Inverse Parallax specifically said they were done with. Do you see my problem here?

                  Also concentration camps are not Godwin’s law territory, plenty of other countries have used them, including the US.

    • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      It’s not really orwellian.

      It’s Oregon, the number of methed up rednecks without shit to do is unimaginable.

      Orwellian would be if it were planned, this is just old-fashioned redneck stupidity.

      • sarcasticsunrise@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        I know, I just hate that this is my headspace regarding what are supposed to be free and democratic elections. It’s an existential kind of dread, and it fucking sucks

        • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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          25 days ago

          Lol, free and fair elections.

          Should try voting in the south while brown.

          This is the America I knew growing up, it’s weird to see everyone else shocked by it.

          Then again, I also feel like the filth leaked out and is trying to follow me :(

          • sarcasticsunrise@lemmy.world
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            24 days ago

            Yeah man, let’s just agree this sucks for anyone with any degree of empathy.

            I’m white, grew up in Florida and got to witness Bush v Gore firsthand as a teen, the psychic damage messed me up so bad, enough to the point where I started to pay attention and be more politically active.

            I’m casting a vote against fascism and racism - We’re in this together

  • The Assman@sh.itjust.works
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    25 days ago

    What are these things doing outside? I don’t get that. Put them inside the courthouse, post office, fire station, a million other places they’d be safe from arson.

  • _bcron_@lemmy.world
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    25 days ago

    Should not have divulged that, now they’re gonna go in with Rit dye and bleach and shit

  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Waiting for the car’s MAGA owner to be arrested and prosecuted. Probably expecting an eventual pardon from Bonespurs. Good luck wit dat.

    • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      That wrote “free gaza” on the incendiary devices and drives a Volvo? I mean… maybe, I guess.

        • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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          23 days ago

          Try learning about an event by reading more than just one source. See if you can do it all by yourself without someone feeding it to you. I’m rooting for you. Just think, you could have already learned this yourself using Google and it would have taken less time and words than you spent asking for it in your comment.

          • MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world
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            23 days ago

            You don’t have to be a dick about it. We’re all here to converse with each other, not google. Maybe they wanted to engage with another human being instead of a search engine. But instead they got you. Come on, chill out and treat others how you want to be treated. You can do it, I believe in you.

    • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      I hope they catch the guy alive and we prosecute the asshole and make a public example of this guy who is most likely Republican.

      • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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        25 days ago

        I would bet up to $1k that this guy is Republican, but I don’t actually care what party they belong to. Make an example of them.

  • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Vancouver?? I told yall that foreigners were voting in our elections!!!

    /s very much needed, as some moron on Facebook is 100% sincerely saying the same thing right now.

  • auzy@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Gee. I wonder if it’s a right winger. As per normal, it’s totally unlikely…

  • barsquid@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    This seems like an election fraud crime done by a poor person, so there will likely be consequences.

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Watch, this dude is going to be an off duty cop and the PPB will come out to accuse the red ballot boxes of not “backing da blue”

    • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
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      25 days ago

      I don’t know why a Democrat city that is in a major deficit hires such inept construction companies thst have Trump plastered all over their construction equipment.

      Well, for starters viewpoint discrimination by a state actor is really fucking illegal..