By The Opinion
Sep 18, 2024, 01:10 AM EDT
The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating several suspicious letters that were sent to election offices in at least eight other states.
Investigators said election offices in those other states received envelopes containing white powder from a group calling itself the “United States Traitor Elimination Army.” Those letters had a return address in Maryland.
According to the AP agency, Packages of gunpowder were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming, citing officials in those states. Secretaries of state in Colorado, Connecticut and Indiana also reported Tuesday that similar envelopes had been intercepted or received.
“The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to election officials in multiple states,” the agencies said in a statement to CBS News. “Some of the letters contained an unknown substance and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners to respond to each incident and safely collect the letters.”
Officials in at least four of the states — Oklahoma, Tennessee, Iowa and Indiana — said they had determined the substances posed no threat. A spokesman for the Tennessee secretary of state’s office said the substance “tested negative for hazardous materials.” The Oklahoma Board of Elections said the substance was found to be flour.
The suspicious letters come after federal cybersecurity officials warned state election administrators that face serious threats this election season.
Even Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said: “We receive threats on a daily basis, whether through voicemail, email, social media or in person.”
This is the second time in the past year that suspicious packages have been sent to election officials in several state offices. The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states less than two months before high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress and key offices in state legislatures across the country, causing disruption to what is already a tense election season.
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