EGN NEWS DESK
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on Tuesday have been investigating the origin of suspicious packages which have been despatched to or acquired by elections officers in additional than 15 states, however there have been no rapid stories of accidents or that any of the packages contained hazardous materials.
The newest packages have been despatched to elections officers in Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Rhode Island. Mississippi authorities reported a package deal was delivered there Monday, and the Connecticut Secretary of State’s workplace mentioned the FBI alerted it of a package deal that was intercepted.
The FBI is gathering the packages, a few of which contained “an unknown substance,” company spokesperson Kristen Setera in Boston mentioned in a press release.
“We are additionally working with our companions to find out what number of letters have been despatched, the person or people liable for the letters, and the motive behind the letters,” she mentioned. “As that is an ongoing matter we won’t be commenting additional on the investigation, however the public could be assured security is our high precedence.”
It’s the second time previously yr that suspicious packages have been mailed to election officers in a number of states.
The newest scare comes as early voting has begun in a number of states forward of the high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress and key statehouse workplaces, inflicting disruption in an already tense voting season. Local election administrators are beefing up safety to maintain employees and polling locations secure whereas additionally guaranteeing that ballots and voting procedures received’t be tampered with.
The National Association of Secretaries of State condemned what it described as a “disturbing development” of threats to election employees main as much as Nov. 5, in addition to the second obvious assassination try on former President Donald Trump.
“This should cease, interval,” the group mentioned. “Our democracy has no place for political violence, threats or intimidation of any variety.”
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office mentioned a package deal containing white powder and with the sender listed as “U.S. Traitor Elimination Army” was intercepted at a mail facility. It mentioned the package deal was much like these despatched to different states and that early indications counsel the powder was innocent.
On Tuesday, the FBI notified the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s workplace that postal service investigators had recognized a suspicious envelope delivered to a constructing housing state workplaces. The package deal was intercepted.
Packages additionally have been despatched to secretaries of state and election workplaces in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming this week. The packages pressured evacuations in Iowa, Oklahoma and Wyoming. Hazmat crews shortly decided the fabric was innocent.
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Elections Division mentioned it acquired a package deal much like these despatched to different states and that the state Department of Homeland Security was testing it. The division mentioned it has notified county election officers to be looking out.
Oklahoma officers mentioned the fabric despatched to the election workplace there contained flour.
“We have particular protocols in place for conditions akin to this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate mentioned in a press release after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines.
A state workplace constructing in Topeka, Kansas, was evacuated on account of suspicious mail despatched to each the secretary of state and lawyer common, Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum mentioned in a press release.
Topeka Fire Department crews discovered a number of items of mail with an unknown substance on them, although a subject take a look at discovered no hazardous supplies, spokesperson Rosie Nichols mentioned. Several staff have been uncovered to it and have been being monitored.
In Oklahoma, the State Election Board acquired a suspicious envelope within the mail containing a multi-page doc and a white, powdery substance, company spokesperson Misha Mohr mentioned. Testing decided the substance was flour.
State employees in an workplace constructing subsequent to the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne have been despatched residence Monday pending testing of a white substance mailed to the secretary of state’s workplace.
Suspicious letters have been despatched to election workplaces and authorities buildings in no less than six states final November, together with the identical constructing in Kansas that acquired suspicious mail Monday. While a few of the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not poisonous delayed the counting of ballots in some native elections.
One of the focused workplaces was in Fulton County, Georgia, the most important voting jurisdiction in one of many nation’s most necessary swing states. Four county election workplaces in Washington state needed to be evacuated as election employees have been processing ballots solid, delaying vote-counting.
The letters prompted election employees across the nation to fill up the overdose reversal treatment naloxone.
Election workplaces throughout the United States have taken steps to extend safety amid an onslaught of harassment and threats following the 2020 election and the false claims that it was rigged.
