London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

Man BURNS ballot box in Boston, gets arrested, as authorities insist most of the votes inside were fine

Man BURNS ballot box in Boston, gets arrested, as authorities insist most of the votes inside were fine

A Boston man was arrested for allegedly using an incendiary device to torch a ballot dropbox after he was spotted in the vicinity hours after the votes caught fire. State officials have demanded increased security for the boxes.

Worldy Armand, 39, was arrested and charged with “willful and malicious burning” on Sunday evening after police connected him to the apparent arson attempt on the box outside the main branch of the Boston Public Library.

The blaze was discovered around 4am on Sunday morning when smoke was seen coming from the early voting ballot box. Firefighters filled the box with water to extinguish the fire.

Armand is believed to have used an “incendiary device” to start the fire, Massachusetts Secretary of Commonwealth William Galvin told local media on Sunday, pointing to severe damage to the plastic lining of the box.

Galvin has called for the FBI to investigate “what appears to be a deliberate attack” on the ballot box, urging local officials across the state to deploy security guards, video surveillance, and other measures – including frequent emptying of drop boxes – to prevent a repeat incident.

The Boston Police Department’s Drug Control Unit spotted Armand near Copley Square, where the attempted ballot-burning took place, on Sunday night and picked him up on an open warrant from the nearby town of Ipswich for receiving stolen property before deciding he was a match for the suspect seen in the surveillance footage of the arson.

Despite the dual-pronged assault of fire and water, 87 of the 122 ballots said to be inside the box were “legible and able to be processed,” Galvin revealed in a statement on Monday.

However, Massachusetts residents who used that dropbox in the 14 hours preceding the fire have been advised to check on their vote status and request a second ballot if it has not been confirmed received. If they do not request another, their original ballot will be “hand-counted to the extent possible,” officials said.

“What happened in the early hours of this morning to the ballot drop box in Copley Square is a disgrace to democracy, a disrespect to the voters fulfilling their civic duty, and a crime,” Galvin declared in a joint statement with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

" We ask voters not to be intimidated by this bad act, and remain committed to making their voices heard in this and every election."


The unfortunate Boston ballot box is actually the second to meet with a bad end in the space of a week. Last Sunday, an unknown individual set fire to a dropbox in the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Hills using a rolled-up newspaper as a torch.

That fire left 230 “pieces of material” for officials to attempt to piece together, and it was unclear how many of those could be read as ballots (or whether indeed they could be read at all). That arson remains under investigation.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
ChatGPT CEO signals policy to alert authorities over suicidal youth after teen’s death
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
×