Suspicious packages were sent to election officials in at least five states on Monday, but there were no reports that the packages contained any hazardous materials.
Packages containing powder were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming and Oklahoma, officials in those states confirmed. The FBI and U.S. Postal Service were investigating. It was the second time in the past year that suspicious packages were sent to election officials in multiple state offices.
The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states, less than two months before the election. high stakes elections for the president, Senate, Congress and key state offices across the country, creating disruption in what is already a tense election season.
Several states reported a white powdery substance in envelopes mailed to election officials. In most cases, the material appeared to be harmless. Officials in Oklahoma said the material sent to the election office there contained flour. Officials in Wyoming have not yet said whether the material sent there was dangerous.
The packages forced an evacuation in Iowa. Hazmat teams in several states quickly determined the material was harmless.
“We have specific protocols for situations like this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines. “We immediately reported the incident in accordance with our protocols.”
A state office building in Topeka, Kansas, that houses both the secretary of state’s office and the attorney general’s office, was also evacuated because of suspicious mail. Authorities have not confirmed whether the mail was addressed to either office.
In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received a suspicious envelope in the mail containing a multi-page document and a white, powdery substance, agency spokesman Misha Mohr told The Associated Press in an email. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which oversees security at the Capitol, secured the envelope. Tests showed the substance was flour, Mohr said.
Suspicious letters have been sent to polling stations in at least five states in early November. Although some of the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not toxic slowed the counting of votes in some local elections.
One of the offices targeted was in Fulton County, Georgia, the largest voting district in one of the country’s key swing states. Four county election offices in Washington State had to be evacuated as election workers processed the ballots cast, delaying the counting of votes.
Election Offices in the United States have taken measures to improve the security of their buildings and enhance the protection of workers amid an attack of intimidation And threats after the 2020 elections and the false claims of fraud.
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Salter reported from O’Fallon, Missouri. Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan. Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Johnathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri, Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.