WASHINGTON — Suspicious letters have shown up at congressional offices and at election offices in several states. Federal investigators are now trying to find out who mailed them, and what was inside.
Word reached Senate offices in a message from the Senate Sergeant at Arms, The Associated Press reported. Three agencies are on the case: the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Capitol Police. Offices were told to treat any such letter as potentially hazardous.
More letters may still be in the mail stream. Investigators are trying to intercept them, the AP said, but the Senate notice was blunt about the limits of that effort — some could get through anyway. On the House side, nothing similar had turned up. Lawmakers there were watching, a person familiar with the matter told the AP.
The FBI said a series of suspicious mailings had gone to addresses across the country, including secretary of state offices and their related election offices. Some letters contained an unknown substance, the bureau said in a statement reported by USA TODAY, and investigators are working to identify who sent them.
Louisiana got one on Tuesday. So did Oklahoma. Both states emptied their election offices while officers checked the envelopes, which held a powdery substance, CNN reported. Ohio almost got one, too. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said a package addressed to his office was stopped by the Postal Service before it arrived.
Oklahoma’s envelope arrived at the State Election Board on Tuesday. Staff left the building. State troopers took over from there. Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said no staff member was harmed and the incident did not affect the board’s ability to conduct elections.
Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry said her Baton Rouge office closed on Tuesday after a suspicious substance was found in the mail. She later said an investigation found no harmful substances there.
Nobody was hurt. That held in every state that reported a letter.
“Those who administer our elections should never fear for their safety while carrying out their essential duties.”
Three weeks out from Election Day, investigators still do not know who sent the letters. They do not know what each powder was, either. Election workers have been through a version of this before: envelopes with fentanyl turned up at election offices in 2023, the AP noted, and at least six states got powder-filled packages in the weeks before the 2024 presidential vote, according to CNN.
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