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194

Arizona ballots damaged after USPS collection box set ablaze in Dem-leaning county: report (www.rawstory.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Arizona law enforcement officials are conducting an arson investigation after election ballots were damaged when a USPS mail collection box was burned in Maricopa County, a Democratic stronghold.

ABC 15 reported that crews responded to the USPS Osborn Station around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday and found a mail collection box on fire.

"Approximately 20 electoral ballots were damaged, along with additional miscellaneous mail," Phoenix Fire Department officials revealed, according to ABC 15.

top 21 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 104 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It’s funny how one side repeatedly interferes with elections and then projects that shit outward as if they’re above board.

[–] kobra@lemm.ee 18 points 1 week ago

With consequences few and far between 😞

[+] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world -17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This particular situation looks more like someone just setting a mailbox on fire. It happened to have ballots because of election season but they weren't the target.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

right...

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world -4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Not everything is about the elections just because it's that season. Arson doesn't care about the election.

It wasn't a ballot drop box that was set on fire, it was a regular old mail drop box.

[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

On the flip side, election season is the ONLY time an arsonist can burn people's votes. Maybe that's exactly why it happened after all 🤷

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Or, a guy with an criminal record already, with an existing warrant out, just committed another criminal offense unrelated to the explicit 4 weeks we happen to be in where there are ballots in the mix.

Occam's Razor. The simplest answer is usually the correct one.

If he was targeting ballots, there's a lot of better places to do it than one random mail dropbox. He wasn't even found in the act, they found him after the fact from surveillance, he probably would have destroyed more boxes if he had a more complicated reason.

[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How can you know the intent unless you set the fire?

Oh, because it's hearsay based on your feels. Okay, that checks outs.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

If anyone bothered to read more than this shitty reblog version of the story, the guy is clearly not driven by politics. He's a run of the mill criminal that just wanted to be arrested so he did something he knew would do that. That is not exactly uncommon, jail will give you a place to sleep and guaranteed meals. For some people, that have little to nothing else in their life, that little bit of security is worth it. It had nothing to do with the ballots.

But this is the internet, no one reads past a headline. And even fewer are going to look for a better source, even the one linked in this exact reblog crap post.

From the actual ABC15 article:

Phoenix police say surveillance video helped them quickly track down and arrest the suspect, a 35-year-old male, for an unrelated warrant. While in police custody, he allegedly admitted to starting the fire but claimed he "wanted to be arrested" and that his actions were not politically motivated and unrelated to the election.
A USPS spokesperson and postal inspector told ABC15, "This does not happen often and is rare," and urged people to place mail in collection boxes before the last collection time each day.

His motivation for doing it makes no difference to the laws broken or sentencing. There's no reason for him to claim it wasn't political if it was.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 76 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Welp, that's a felony.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 36 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Federal. Multiple times over.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

But if it results in the riding going R, those felonies may be pardoned.

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Don’t mess with usps. They are funded and bored.

[–] piecat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

And the postmaster general is a trump ally.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh good. We'll spend 4 years doing as little as possible to prosecute and then hand out a lenient non-sentence.

[–] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

No dude…you do not fuck with Postal Inspectors. They are armed and mean business. They’re the ones who took down Steve Bannon for his border wall donation scam lol

[–] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Ok, just like you don't fuck with the DOJ, while Trump is 3 inches away from becoming president again, and they're not quite sure if Musk's current actions are crimes, right?