Idaho elections office was sent mail with ‘suspicious substances.’ What we know

BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Idaho’s elections office was sent a letter containing “suspicious substances” just weeks ahead of the election, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane confirmed Friday.

It was one of dozens of such letters sent to congressional and state elections offices around the country, NBC News reported Wednesday.

The postal service intercepted Idaho’s letter before it made its way to staff, McGrane told the Idaho Statesman.

Law enforcement sources told NBC News that initial tests of the substance in the letters – an unknown white powder – found it wasn’t hazardous. They said dozens of letters were sent, but declined to give an exact number because law enforcement is still intercepting more.

McGrane’s office dealt with a similar incident in 2024, when it received a threatening package containing a manifesto and white powder, the Statesman reported at the time.

That package included a manifesto related to the 2024 presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, McGrane’s office said, and was mailed from Oklahoma with a return address to the “United States Traitor Elimination Army.”