Suspicious Packages Sent to Officials  09/17 06:21

   

   (AP) -- Suspicious packages were sent to election officials in at least six 
states on Monday, but there were no reports that any of the packages contained 
hazardous material.

   Powder-containing packages were sent to secretaries of state and state 
election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming and Oklahoma, 
officials in those states confirmed. The FBI and U.S. Postal Service were 
investigating. It marked the second time in the past year that suspicious 
packages were mailed to election officials in multiple state offices.

   The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states less than 
two months ahead of the high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress 
and key statehouse offices around the nation, causing disruption in what is 
already a tense voting season.

   Several of the states reported a white powder substance found in envelopes 
sent to election officials. In most cases, the material was found to be 
harmless. Oklahoma officials said the material sent to the election office 
there contained flour. Wyoming officials have not yet said if the material sent 
there was hazardous.

   The packages forced an evacuation in Iowa. Hazmat crews in several states 
quickly determined the material was harmless.

   "We have specific protocols in place for situations such as 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 per our protocols."

   A state office building in Topeka, Kansas, was also evacuated due to 
suspicious mail sent to both the secretary of state and attorney general, 
Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum said in a statement.

   Topeka Fire Department crews found several pieces of mail with an unknown 
substance on them, though a field test found no hazardous materials, 
spokesperson Rosie Nichols said. Several employees in both offices had been 
exposed to it and had their health monitored, she said.

   In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received a suspicious envelope in the 
mail containing a multi-page document and a white, powdery substance, agency 
spokesperson Misha Mohr said in an email to The Associated Press. The Oklahoma 
Highway Patrol, which oversees security for the Capitol, secured the envelope. 
Testing determined the substance was flour, Mohr said.

   State workers in an office building next to the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne 
were sent home for the day pending testing of a white substance mailed to the 
secretary of state's office.

   Suspicious letters were sent to election offices and government buildings in 
at least six states last November, including the same building in Kansas that 
received suspicious mail Monday. While some of the letters contained fentanyl, 
even the suspicious mail that was not toxic delayed the counting of ballots in 
some local elections.

   One of the targeted offices was in Fulton County, Georgia, the largest 
voting jurisdiction in one of the nation's most important swing states. Four 
county election offices in Washington state had to be evacuated as election 
workers were processing ballots cast, delaying vote-counting.

   The letters caused election workers around the country to stock up the 
overdose reversal medication naloxone.

   Election offices across the United States have taken steps to increase the 
security of their buildings and boost protections for workers amid an onslaught 
of harassment and threats following the 2020 election and the false claims that 
it was rigged.