The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said on October 15, 2026, that they are investigating a wave of suspicious mailings sent to election offices and congressional offices around the country, some of them carrying what officials have described only as an unknown white powder.
Three election officials briefed on the investigation told Votebeat that more than 100 letters were sent to people and organizations nationwide. Federal agencies have not confirmed a total.
The timing is the point of concern: the mailings landed 18 days before the November 3 midterm elections, with early voting already running in much of the country.
What the agencies have said
The FBI said it is investigating "suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide," and that "some of the letters contained an unknown substance." It declined to confirm individual cases while the investigation is open.
Brendan Donahue, deputy chief inspector at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, told CBS News that recipients included "secretary of state offices and the related election offices," and that investigators had intercepted some letters in transit. He would not give a count or discuss whether the mailings are linked.
"Any threat or attack on an election official is unacceptable," Donahue said.
Where the letters went
Opened, then tested. In Louisiana, Secretary of State Nancy Landry said an employee in the Elections Division opened a package containing white powder; law enforcement tests "found no evidence of harmful substances," and no one was hurt. In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received an envelope with a suspicious white powder and evacuated its office; Secretary Paul Ziriax said no one was injured.
Evacuated. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said a letter containing white powder reached his office on the afternoon of October 15, forcing an evacuation while hazmat crews cleared the building. "We will not be scared out of doing our jobs on behalf of the voters of Arizona," he said.
Received and handed over unopened. The Wisconsin Elections Commission got a mailing with an unidentified powdery substance that was later judged not dangerous; administrator Meagan Wolfe said the incident "will not shake us" and would not affect the general election. In Nebraska, staff did not open the envelope and turned it over to the FBI. Secretary of State Bob Evnen said it was the second such envelope his office has received, the first in 2024.
Intercepted before delivery. Letters addressed to offices in Ohio, New Hampshire and Washington were stopped by law enforcement, and the Postal Service blocked a suspicious letter in Pennsylvania on October 14. The FBI told Connecticut's secretary of state that a letter had been intercepted; the local field office said it had "received multiple interceptions." Letters bound for Georgia, Idaho and South Dakota were also reported intercepted.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose called the threats "cowardly."
Congress
The Senate sergeant at arms notified congressional staff of the investigation. The offices of Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, and Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, were among the recipients. Josh Sorbe, a spokesman for Murphy, said the office was briefed by the FBI, the sergeant at arms and the Capitol Police, and that "the Senator and staff were not in immediate danger."
Not the first time
Federal investigators ran a similar inquiry before the 2024 elections, when suspicious packages reached election officials in at least six states. Evnen's office in Nebraska was one of them.
The backdrop
The mailings arrived in the middle of an early-voting surge. More than 4 million Americans had already voted as of October 14, with records falling in several states, Spectrum News reported. Georgia logged more than 188,000 ballots on its first day of early voting, October 13 — a state midterm record, according to the secretary of state's office — and Ohio's chief election official said early voting there had nearly quadrupled compared with four years ago.
That combination is what makes the letters more than a nuisance for the offices receiving them. Each evacuation takes an election office offline for hours at the exact moment it is processing ballots, which is a cost the mailings impose whether or not any envelope ever contained anything dangerous.
Reporting from Votebeat, CBS News and Spectrum News.
