In cases similar to what happened in 2023, letters are being sent to election officials just right before an important election season.
By Catholics for Catholics
Here we go again: more letters with “suspicious substances,” just in time for the elections.
Federal authorities are probing letters with “suspicious substances” that have been sent to congressional and election offices across the nation and are pressing recipients to consider the mailings as “potentially hazardous.”
Led by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Capitol Police, the investigation was first disclosed in a message from the Senate sergeant at arms obtained Thursday by the Associated Press. The notice, sent to Senate offices, said that law enforcement officials were working to intercept any additional letters, but “it is possible that some letters may reach their destinations.”
The suspicious letters come just three weeks prior to Election Day and are eerily evocative of a similar menace in 2023, when election offices in six states received mailings that had a white powder. In some cases, the occurrences interrupted work around local elections.
Some of those letters had threats and traces of the powerful opioid fentanyl, leading some election offices to stock up on the overdose reversal medication naloxone.
Regarding the current letters, an FBI statement said the bureau and the Postal Inspection Service were “investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide, including Secretary of State offices and their related election offices.”
“Some of the letters contained an unknown substance and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners to respond to each incident,” the statement read. “We are also working with our partners to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the letters.”
In addition, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors issued a joint statement denouncing what they said were threats against election staff.
“Those who administer our elections should never fear for their safety while carrying out their essential duties,” they said in their statement.
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