FBI, US Postal Service investigate suspicious mailings to election officials, lawmakers

The FBI said some of the letters contained an unknown substance.

The investigation come less than three weeks before the midterms, which will determine control of the US Congress, as the Postal Service prepares to handle millions of mailed ballots.

Spokespeople for Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, and Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, all said the US Postal Service intercepted letters containing a suspicious substance mailed to their offices.

"This incident is a stark reminder of the very real dangers facing those who serve the public and who help administer our elections," Padilla said in a statement.

The US House of Representatives sergeant at arms, the House's chief law enforcement officer, told staff in an email seen by Reuters that some public officials had received letters containing suspicious white powder substances. 

Brendan Donahue, a deputy chief inspector with the US Postal Inspection Service, said some suspicious letters had been intercepted and that an investigation was ongoing.

"We are committed to protecting our nation's election officials from threatening and dangerous mail. Any threat or attack on an election official is unacceptable," Donahue told reporters.

The National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors said late on Wednesday a series of suspicious letters was sent to state election offices. Letters bound for several state election offices were intercepted before they were delivered, including in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Idaho.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission said on Thursday it received a suspicious letter with an unidentified powdery substance that was deemed not hazardous. "Let this be very clear: this incident will not shake us,” said Meagan Wolfe, the state’s chief election official.

An email to Senate staff said suspicious letters could have postmarks that do not match the return address and included an image of an envelope with a return address labeled "DSA" and a New York City address.

POSTAL SERVICE PLANS NEW MEASURES

Earlier on Thursday, US Postmaster General David Steiner said USPS was "absolutely ready" to handle millions of ballots for the midterm elections.

USPS said this month it would take "extraordinary measures" for the 2026 election, including extending hours at some retail locations and expediting handling, extra deliveries and special pickups of ballots.

On September 14, the US Supreme Court declined to let USPS enforce a rule targeting mail-in ballots, dealing a ​setback to President Donald Trump's effort to restrict voting by mail. USPS said it would not enforce the rule under the order.

The agency adopted the measure after Trump issued a March executive order aimed at tightening rules governing mail voting.

In 2024, USPS delivered 99.2 million ballots to and from voters in the presidential election. About 30% of votes were cast by mail in the November 2024 presidential election, down from 46% in 2020.

Trump's fellow Republicans are locked in a tight battle to retain control of Congress in the midterms. Democratic voters disproportionately use mail-in ballots, according to various surveys, so restricting them could benefit Republicans.

Under the rule that was blocked, states would have had to provide lists of mail-ballot recipients to USPS and use agency-approved outbound and return ballot mail envelopes outfitted with unique barcodes. The Postal Service could then have refused to send out ballots that did not comply or were associated with voters not appearing on the lists.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Rod Nickel and Lincoln Feast)