The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on Tuesday had been investigating the origin of suspicious packages which have been despatched to or obtained by elections officers in additional than 15 states, however there have been no rapid studies of accidents or that any of the packages contained hazardous materials.
The most recent packages had 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 amassing the packages, a few of which contained “an unknown substance,” company spokesperson Kristen Setera in Boston mentioned in a press release.
“We are also working with our partners to determine how many letters were sent, the individual or individuals responsible for the letters, and the motive behind the letters,” she mentioned. “As this is an ongoing matter we will not be commenting further on the investigation, but the public can be assured safety is our top priority.”
It’s the second time up to now 12 months that suspicious packages had been mailed to election officers in a number of states.
The most recent 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 places of work, inflicting disruption in an already tense voting season. Native election administrators are beefing up safety to maintain employees and polling locations secure whereas additionally guaranteeing that ballots and voting procedures gained’t be tampered with.
The Nationwide Affiliation of Secretaries of State condemned what it described as a “disturbing trend” 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 must stop, period,” the group mentioned. “Our democracy has no place for political violence, threats or intimidation of any form.”
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Workplace 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 places of work. The package deal was intercepted.
The Oklahoma State Election Board Workplace, contained in the state Capitol in Oklahoma Metropolis
Packages additionally had been despatched to secretaries of state and election places of work 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 obtained a package deal much like these despatched to different states and that the state Division of Homeland Safety 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 specific protocols in place for situations such as this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate mentioned in a press release after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Workplace Constructing in Des Moines.
A state workplace constructing in Topeka, Kansas, was evacuated as a consequence of suspicious mail despatched to each the secretary of state and lawyer basic, Kansas Freeway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum mentioned in a press release.
Topeka Fireplace Division crews discovered a number of items of mail with an unknown substance on them, although a subject check discovered no hazardous supplies, spokesperson Rosie Nichols mentioned. A number of workers had been uncovered to it and had been being monitored.
In Oklahoma, the State Election Board obtained 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 had been despatched dwelling Monday pending testing of a white substance mailed to the secretary of state’s workplace.
Suspicious letters had been despatched to election places of work and authorities buildings in no less than six states final November, together with the identical constructing in Kansas that obtained suspicious mail Monday. Whereas among the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not poisonous delayed the counting of ballots in some native elections.
One of many focused places of work was in Fulton County, Georgia, the most important voting jurisdiction in one of many nation’s most vital swing states. 4 county election places of work in Washington state needed to be evacuated as election employees had been processing ballots solid, delaying vote-counting.
The letters triggered election employees across the nation to top off the overdose reversal medicine naloxone.
Election places of work throughout america 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.
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