Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Man charged in burning of ballot drop box in Boston

Police say a 39-year-old man has been charged with lighting a fire in a Boston ballot drop box  and damaging dozens of ballots

Via AP news wire
Monday 26 October 2020 16:43 GMT
Election 2020-Massachusetts-Ballot Box
Election 2020-Massachusetts-Ballot Box
Leer en Español

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A man was charged with lighting a fire in a Boston ballot drop box and damaging dozens of ballots, police said Monday.

Worldy Armand, a 39-year-old Boston resident, was taken into custody late Sunday after drug control unit officers on patrol saw a man who matched the description of the suspect authorities were looking for in the ballot box fire, police said. Police said he also had an active warrant for receiving stolen property.

Armand faces a charge of willful and malicious burning, police said. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney to comment on his behalf.

The FBI said Sunday that it's investigating the fire that was set around 4 a.m. in a ballot drop box outside the Boston Public Library downtown.

Officers called to the scene saw smoke coming out of the box before firefighters managed to extinguish the fire by filling the box with water, police said.

There were 122 ballots inside the box when it was emptied Sunday morning, and 87 of them were still legible and able to be processed, Galvin’s office said.

Voters can go online to see whether their ballot was processed. Those who used that dropbox between Saturday afternoon and 4 a.m. Sunday and can’t confirm the status of their ballot online should contact the Boston Elections Department immediately, officials said.

Voters whose ballots were affected can either vote in person or by a replacement ballot that will be mailed to them, officials said. If those voters don’t submit a new ballot, “their original ballot will be hand-counted to the extent possible,” election officials said.

The FBI said in a statement announcing their investigation that “it is a top priority of our offices to help maintain the integrity of the election process in Massachusetts by aggressively enforcing federal election laws.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in