Arizona: Ballots Damaged After Collection Box Blaze

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Facts

  • A mailbox was set on fire Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona, damaging approximately 20 electoral ballots. Dieter B. Klofkorn, 35, was arrested in connection with the incident.[1][2]
  • The Phoenix Police Department said Klofkorn admitted to committing arson 'because he wanted to be arrested,' but his actions 'were not politically motivated.' He's been charged with one count of arson of property.[3]
  • Arizona Sec. of State Adrian Fontes said many undamaged ballots were saved and 'affected voters will be contacted.' A Maricopa County official asked voters who used the mailbox over the previous 36 hours to check their ballot status online. Oct. 25 is the last day to request a replacement.[4][5]
  • The Phoenix Fire Department reported that the police responded to the incident by opening the mailbox and extinguishing the fire, with damaged ballots and other mail later taken by the US Postal Inspection Service.[6][7]
  • This comes as, according to FiveThirtyEight's polling average as of Oct. 25, Republican former Pres. Donald Trump leads Democratic Vice Pres. Kamala Harris by 1.8% in Arizona, while RealClearPolling shows him ahead by 1.5% as of Oct. 22. On the same day in 2020, Joe Biden led Trump by 2.2%, while Hillary Clinton led him by 1.5% in 2016.[8][9]

Sources: [1]New York Post, [2]NBC, [3]Phoenix, [4]Newsweek, [5]USA Today, [6]NY1, [7]The Arizona Republic, [8]FiveThirtyEight and [9]RealClearPolling.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by ABC News. After some worry, it turns out the suspect, by his own admission, was not politically motivated. Klofkorn, who already had an outstanding arrest warrant, simply wanted to be put in jail. Luckily, it also seems that the number of ballots destroyed was lower than the initial number that Phoenix police thought were damaged.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Axios and Washington Examiner. While this incident may not have been election-related, fears of political violence in Arizona remain real. Recently, a man was arrested in connection with three shootings at a DNC office, while a 17-year-old was arrested on terrorism charges after planning to bomb a Pride event. Arizonans are understandably on edge.

Predictions