Editorial: Bolster protections for state, county election staff
By The Herald Editorial Board
In what might have been a practice run for the 2024 election, an unknown individual or group interfered with the Nov. 7 election by sending envelopes — at least some of which contained traces of fentanyl, and messages demanding an end to the election — to election offices in five Washington counties.
The discovery of the envelopes and concerns over exposure to a potentially dangerous contaminant led to the evacuation of affected offices and a temporary halt to ballot counting in those counties.
A similar suspicious envelope was received by Snohomish County’s election office, but — noticed after news broke of the envelopes sent to King, Skagit, Pierce and Spokane counties — it was left unopened and turned over to investigators with the FBI. Similar envelopes were received in Oregon, California, Nevada and Georgia.
While fentanyl cannot cause poisoning or overdose from contact, the mailing of white powder echoed threatening mailings in the days that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in which anthrax, an infectious bacteria, was sent to members of Congress and several media offices, killing five people and sickening 17.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-bolster-protections-for-state-county-election-staff/