White Powder Letters Reach Election Offices in at Least Five States as the FBI Warns of Threats to Election Workers

The FBI and the US Postal Inspection Service are investigating suspicious letters, most of them holding white powder, that reached state election offices in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nebraska in mid-October. Postal inspectors stopped more before delivery. On October 15 the FBI issued a public warning about threats to election workers.

Two letters were opened on Tuesday, October 13. In Louisiana, a letter reached the elections office of Secretary of State Nancy Landry. The employee who opened it was taken to an emergency room as a precaution and the building was cleared for the rest of the day. Testing later found the powder harmless. The same afternoon in Oklahoma, a state elections employee opened a letter with white powder and the building was evacuated.

Where the Letters Landed

Three more offices received letters over the following days. The Wisconsin Elections Commission got a mail piece with a powdery substance that tests found was not hazardous. “This incident will not shake us,” said Meagan Wolfe, the commission’s administrator. On Thursday, October 15, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’s office received a letter with white powder. Hazmat crews cleared the area, the office was evacuated, and preliminary tests showed the substance was not harmful. In Nebraska, staff in Secretary of State Bob Evnen’s office spotted a suspicious envelope, left it unopened and handed it to the FBI. Evnen said it was the second his office had received. The first came in 2024.

Other letters never arrived. The Postal Service intercepted one addressed to Ohio’s elections office on October 14. Pennsylvania’s Department of State said delivery of a suspicious letter was blocked the same day. Officials reported interceptions of letters bound for election offices in New Hampshire, Washington, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho and South Dakota. “I can confirm that we have intercepted some of these letters,” said Brendan Donahue of the Postal Inspection Service.

The mailings also went to Congress. The Senate Sergeant at Arms warned Senate offices. Capitol Police intercepted a letter sent to the office of Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, and postal inspectors stopped mail addressed to Senators Alex Padilla of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

How many letters went out is not settled. NBC News reported that election offices in at least 15 states received or were sent suspicious mail. Votebeat reported that three election officials put the total at more than 100 letters nationwide, without a breakdown of how many went to election offices and how many to politicians or other recipients. The FBI has not said whether the letters are linked, and no arrest or suspect has been announced.

What the FBI Told Election Workers

The FBI’s October 15 public service announcement, issued the same day as two others on election crimes and election-themed fraud, does not mention the letters. It warns that threats against election workers endanger people and could destabilize the electoral process. It defines election workers broadly: secretaries of state and their staff, county election board employees, poll volunteers, clerks who handle or count ballots, and contractors and vendors. It asks anyone who knows of a threat to report it to an FBI field office or through the bureau’s online tip form, with screenshots, names, dates and places.

Mailing a threat or a hoax substance is a federal crime. The PSA itself does not set out penalties.

The National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors said in a joint statement that they were “deeply concerned” and that election workers should not have to fear for their safety.

A Repeat of 2023 With Less Federal Support

Election offices have been here before. In 2023, letters with powder went to election offices in six states, and some contained traces of fentanyl. Some offices stocked up on naloxone afterward.

The difference this year is who helps. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency cut its election security staff and ended funding for the Elections Infrastructure ISAC in 2025, leaving many counties to cover security costs on their own, as we reported in September. A Brennan Center survey early in 2026 found that a third of local election officials had faced threats, harassment or abuse.

Mail is the hardest channel to secure for a small office. Ballots, registration forms and correspondence arrive the same way, in volume, in the weeks before an election. Every suspicious envelope means a stopped office, a hazmat call and lost hours at the busiest point of the year. That cost lands on state and county offices, even when the investigation is federal.