Mail containing substances that could not be identified has been arriving at legislative and election-related offices in multiple states, including Maryland, leading federal authorities to treat each piece as a potential safety concern.
Details of the investigation — conducted jointly by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Capitol Police — became public after a news outlet obtained a communication from the Senate Sergeant at Arms. According to the advisory distributed to Senate offices, authorities were actively working to intercept further correspondence before delivery, though some pieces had not been ruled out from reaching their intended recipients.
Within Congress, exposure at that point appeared confined to the Senate chamber, while House officials were monitoring developments — details relayed by a source who lacked authorisation to speak publicly about the investigation.
Both the FBI and the Postal Inspection Service have opened a joint investigation into a series of mailings flagged as suspicious, with targets spanning multiple states and including offices tied to the administration of elections. Officials are coordinating with law enforcement partners to address each incident, including letters found to contain a material that has yet to be identified. An investigation into the origin of the letters is under way, with partner agencies drawn into the effort to trace those responsible for sending them.
Envelopes carrying an unidentified powder prompted officials to clear voting administration buildings across at least two states — Louisiana and Oklahoma. A package carrying white powder and addressed to the Ohio secretary of state's office was intercepted by the Postal Service, with that official adding that comparable deliveries had reached election administrators across several other states.
Election offices in both Mississippi and South Dakota reported that separately addressed mailings had been directed at their offices, though postal workers intercepted the envelopes before they reached their destinations.
DeMarinis, who serves as Maryland's elections administrator, told reporters he received an email notification that federal law enforcement had intercepted postal items directed to the Maryland State Board of Elections in Annapolis, and he called on those responsible to bring the situation to an end. He described the mailings as tools intended to pressure election officials and suppress voter participation, while stating that his administration of the election would continue regardless.
DeMarinis has been named as a defendant in civil actions filed by the administration, which are pressing states to hand over protected voter registration data before the next midterm election. No details about the package or what it contained were passed along to him by the authorities. He also conveyed appreciation for the protection provided to him and his team by law enforcement officers.
The arrival of the mailings, timed roughly three weeks ahead of Election Day, draws a parallel to a 2023 incident in which mailings carrying a white powder were dispatched to election offices across six states. At a small number of voting locations, the incidents disrupted operations during that election period. A number of election offices subsequently stocked naloxone — a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses — after certain mailings were found to carry both threatening language and traces of fentanyl.
A joint statement from two election-administration bodies — the National Association of Secretaries of State alongside the National Association of State Election Directors — drew attention to documented threats aimed at election workers, with both groups affirming that those responsible for managing voting operations deserve to perform their roles free from concerns about their physical safety.
Brendan Donahue, a deputy postal inspector, told reporters that any form of threat or attack directed at election officials is wholly unacceptable, adding that law enforcement is coordinating with partner agencies to identify whoever sent the letters.
