Here’s how Salt Lake County ballot boxes are protected from fire

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman didn’t mince words when asked about ballot boxes recently set on fire in Washington and Oregon.

“This is a direct attack on our democracy,” she told KSL NewsRadio on Tuesday. “This is trying to dissuade people from having their voices heard.”

“Incendiary devices” were set off at drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington on Monday according to the Associated Press.

Can it happen here?

Chapman said the state of Utah, and Salt Lake County specifically, have implemented multiple safeguards at ballot boxes. 

“We have surveillance cameras on every single drop box,” she said.  “… I have law enforcement that picks up from our drop boxes due to the nature of this election. I’m picking up every single day, that includes Sunday.”

“Furthermore, I have fire suppressant mechanisms inside the drop box.” (Hundreds of ballots were burnt despite a fire suppression system in the Vancouver ballot box.)

How Utah voters know if their ballots have been counted

The state offers a webpage that gives Utah residents multiple ways to keep track of their ballot, once it’s mailed.

“If you go to vote.utah.gov, any voter can look up to see if their ballot was counted,” said Director of Elections with the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s office, Ryan Cowley.

“There’s a red banner at the top that lets you track your ballot. You can sign up to get text and email notifications.”

When a ballot is being mailed out, returned, or challenged a voter would receive a push, according to Cowley.

What if it did happen here?

Despite law enforcement patrols and cameras, if someone set fire to a ballot box, Cowley said the voter would not lose their chance to vote.

“If there was something that happened and some of the ballots were destroyed … the clerks will know when [the ballot box] was last collected. So they can [announce] ‘hey, at this location, if you put your ballot in from this point in time to that point in time, then you’ll need to be reissued a ballot.”

Related election reading:

• Deepfakes fool more than half of Americans, UVU study shows
• Young voters in Utah report feeling discouraged by presidential candidates
• Boyd Matheson: It is time to choose the present

 

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