SEATTLE — Four county elections offices in Washington state had been evacuated Wednesday once they gained envelopes containing suspicious powders — together with two that field-tested certain for fentanyl — whilst staff had been processing ballots from Tuesday’s election.
The elections offices had been positioned in King County — house of Seattle — in addition to Skagit, Spokane and Pierce counties, the Secretary of State’s Office stated in emailed news liberate. Local, state and federal brokers had been investigating, and no person was once injured, officers stated.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs referred to as the incidents “acts of terrorism to threaten our elections.”
“These incidents underscore the critical need for stronger protections for all election workers,” he stated.
Renton police detective Robert Onishi showed that an envelope gained by way of staff at a King County elections place of work field-tested certain for fentanyl, whilst Spokane Police Department spokesperson Julie Humphreys stated fentanyl was once present in an envelope on the Spokane County Elections place of work, The Seattle Times reported.
The envelope gained by way of the Pierce County elections place of work in Tacoma contained baking soda, Tacoma police spokesperson William Muse advised the paper.
A message throughout the envelope stated “something to the effect of stopping the election,” Muse stated. “There was no candidate that was identified. There was no religious affiliated group identified. There was no political issue identified. It was just that vague statement.”
Voters in Washington state solid their ballots by way of mail. Tuesday’s elections involved native and county races and measures, together with a query on renter protections in Tacoma, a decent mayor’s race in Spokane and shut City Council races in Seattle.
Halei Watkins, communications supervisor for King County Elections, advised The Seattle Times the envelope opened by way of staffers in Renton on Wednesday morning was once no longer a poll. By 3 p.m., King County had returned to counting and was once making plans to meet its authentic 4 p.m. time limit to post effects, however the replace can be “significantly smaller” than what’s in most cases posted at the day after an election, Watkins stated.
Patrick Bell, a spokesperson for Spokane County Elections, stated staff had been despatched house after the envelope was once discovered mid-morning and no additional votes can be counted Wednesday.
The Secretary of State’s Office famous that elections officers in two counties — King and Okanogan — gained suspicious components in envelopes throughout the August number one. In the case of King County, the envelope contained hint quantities of fentanyl, whilst in Okanogan the substance was once made up our minds to be unharmful on trying out by way of the United States Postal Inspection Service.
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