Feds investigate suspicious letters sent to officials in six states

Officers from both the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are looking into over a dozen reported letters sent to public officials, a Justice Department spokesperson said Thursday. The letters seem to have targeted election offices in California, Nevada, Georgia, Oregon, Texas, and Washington state, where officials have reported receiving suspicious mail. For now, investigators are treating all the letters as connected while they look into the issue further.

What makes the letters suspicious? Officials in Fulton County, Ga., said they received a letter suspected to contain fentanyl, a deadly drug. Election offices across multiple counties in Washington state received envelopes with powdery substances on Wednesday. A letter delivered to King County, Wash., prompted authorities to evacuate about 150 workers for several hours.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s article in World Magazine about counties calling for poll worker help during last year’s election.