SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane County Elections Office has returned to normal operations after a suspicious letter containing a white, powdery substance, which tested positive for fentanyl, was received.
Suspicious letters were mailed to election offices in at least five states: California, Georgia, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
Elections offices in Spokane, King, Pierce, Skagit and Snohomish counties received suspicious mail. In some of the envelopes, including those in Spokane County, had a powder with traces of fentanyl.
The letter sent to Pierce County had a postmark date from Nov. 6 and was sent from Portland.
The Elections Office processed envelopes and ballots, tabulating into Wednesday.
Although Wednesday’s events were disruptive, the office still has until November 28 days to certify the election.
After Wednesday’s incident, while operations resumed, there were some slight precautions, including employees and volunteers being more diligent about wearing gloves.
“We will probably be a little tighter on our insistence that who is ever opening non-ballot envelopes be wearing gloves and even have a mask available,” Vicky Dalton, the Spokane County Auditor, said.
NonStop Local contacted FBI Seattle to gather more information on the investigation.
The office shared a statement explaining that because this is an ongoing matter, they could not comment.
“FBI Seattle, along with our law enforcement partners, responded to multiple incidents involving suspicious letters sent to ballot counting centers in Washington state. As this is an ongoing matter, we do not have any further comment, but the public can be assured that law enforcement will continue to keep the public’s safety as its top priority,” Steve Bernd and Amy Alexander, the Public Affairs managers for FBI Seattle, said.
Meanwhile, Dalton told NonStop Local that the employee who received the letter is a “tough little cookie” and returned to the County Elections Office Thursday.
