Election offices across the United States, including a key battleground state, have been targeted with suspicious letters containing white powder, some of which have tested positive for fentanyl. The incidents have led to the evacuation of several election offices, causing delays in ballot counting.
The letters, which have been sent to election offices in Georgia, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington, have been reportedly “intercepted” in some instances before reaching their destinations. The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service have confirmed that four of these letters contained fentanyl.
Four county election offices in Washington State were evacuated on Tuesday after workers received envelopes containing a mysterious white powder, the Seattle Times reported.
Alarmingly, tests revealed that the substance in two of these offices was fentanyl. The incident occurred as election workers were processing ballots.
The affected counties include King, Skagit, Spokane, and Pierce. The Pierce County auditor’s office in Tacoma, Washington, was one of the first to report receiving such an envelope postmarked in Portland, Oregon.
The letter accompanying the powder carried a disturbing message: “End elections now. Stop giving power to the right that they don’t have. We are in charge now and there is no more need for them.”
The letter added, “Also be aware your ballot drops are very susceptible to noxious chemicals like am/bl, they are unsafe to the public just saying.”
The letters have featured symbols associated with ANTIFA, a progress pride flag, and a pentagram.
EXCLUSIVE: Pierce County Elections confirmed that this is the letter it received yesterday that prompted the emergency response.
It had a white powdery substance on it and the building was evacuated pic.twitter.com/74vmT7pTk4
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) November 9, 2023
More from the Seattle Times:
The offices in Spokane and King counties received envelopes with traces of fentanyl. No employees were harmed by the substance. Fentanyl cannot cause overdoses from contact.
No staffers appeared to become ill, said King County Elections spokesperson Halei Watkins, but hazmat crews and law enforcement cleared the office. The investigation in King County was turned over to the FBI.
At the Pierce County Elections Office, an elections worker found an envelope that dispersed a white powdery substance. It was later found to be baking soda.
The explosives disposal unit and the Spokane Fire Department hazmat team responded to and evacuated the Spokane County Elections office after, again, a piece of mail with powder was opened around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The employee who opened it was not harmed.
In Snohomish County, elections officials did not open the envelope and turned it over to the FBI. They told The Everett Herald that the piece of mail matched the description of suspicious mail received by other counties this week.
Steve Hobbs, a former state senator from Lake Stevens and the current Secretary of State, referred to the attacks on Wednesday as “acts of terrorism to threaten our elections,” as reported by the Associated Press.
Another targeted office was Fulton County in Georgia, a crucial voting jurisdiction in presidential elections.
As a precaution, officials have sent naloxone, an overdose-reversal drug, to the office. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has condemned these acts as domestic terrorism.
“This is domestic terrorism, and it needs to be condemned by anyone that holds elected office and anyone that wants to hold elective office anywhere in America,” said Raffensperger.
WABE reported:
A potentially fentanyl-laced letter has been sent and is on the way to a Fulton County Elections Office, according to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The letter was part of a batch of five letters — four went to elections offices in Washington state and contained suspicious powders. At least two of those letters tested positive for fentanyl. Federal authorities discovered that a fifth letter was addressed to the Fulton County Elections Office in Fairburn, and they alerted Georgia authorities.
“It’s still in transit. It hasn’t arrived yet,” Raffensperger said at a press conference on Thursday. “We’re trying to intercept it before it gets here.”
Raffensperger said the Fulton County Elections Office is prepared in case the letter arrives there, including taking training on naloxone, the spray known as NARCAN that treats opioid overdoses.
Raffensperger’s office put out a notice about the incident to all 159 counties across the state.
In California, two suspicious envelopes were intercepted en route to election facilities in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Similarly, in Lane County, Oregon, a piece of mail prompted the closure of the local election office and delayed ballot pickups.
The implications of these incidents extend beyond the immediate threat to public health and safety. The delay in vote counting caused by these evacuations has the potential to compromise the integrity of the votes. Antifa should be held accountable and should be labeled as a terrorist organization.