New footage shows smoke and sparks erupting from the Vancouver ballot box in a rapid fire attack

As investigators continue to search for a man who set fire to ballot drop boxes in Portland and Vancouver, Washington, new security footage provides some details about the attacks.

The suspect, who Portland Police Bureau officers recently identified as a man in his 30s or 40s, planted an incendiary device on the ballot box in Vancouver and detonated the whole thing in less than a minute, security footage showed.

A dark sedan was filmed arriving at the Fisher's Landing Transit Center parking lot just after 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 28. In the footage, a glow could be seen outside the driver's side window. About half a minute later, the driver drives off when smoke rises from the pits.

Seconds after the suspect left, an explosion lit up the camera image and sparks showered from the box. The fire suppression system inside failed to put out the fire, Clark County election officials said, and hundreds of ballots burned.

The footage doesn't capture many details about the vehicle or driver. Four separate cameras at the transit center showed the vehicle entering and exiting, but none provided much insight into the vehicle. OPB obtained the videos through a records request from C-TRAN, Clark County's public transportation agency.

Investigators said Wednesday they believe the suspect acted alone. A spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau confirmed to OPB that the attack in east Vancouver was the first time that day, indicating that investigators believe the suspect may have driven from Vancouver to the second attack in inner southeast Portland is.

Portland officers responded to a fire at the ballot box on Southeast Morrison Street about an hour later at 3:30 a.m. However, unlike the previous ballot box, the Morrison Street ballot box's fire suppression canister worked and saved many of the ballots, officials said.

Investigators believe the suspect has “extensive expertise in metal processing and welding,” PPB spokesman Mike Benner said in a recent press conference.

The suspect is said to have short hair or bald head, a thin to medium build, a narrow face and is wearing a dark shirt. The car was determined to be a dark-colored Volvo S-60 manufactured between 2001 and 2004. Investigators said the car did not have a front license plate.

The camera that captured the footage is a dome-shaped panoramic camera that captures multiple angles from the same location. According to a spokesman, C-TRAN installed it in 2016.