ST. PAUL, Min. – State officials say so substance found in ‘suspicious’ packaging delivered to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office on Friday is harmless.
The US Postal Inspection Service and the Minnesota Department of Health led the investigation and reported the results of their tests on Saturday. However, MDH continues to conduct an additional battery of tests.
The package was addressed to the state office with the return address reading “United States Traitor Elimination Army.” The office was evacuated after receiving the package and did not return for the rest of the business day on Friday.
Several other secretaries of state and election officials say so receive similar packages the past few months.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon released this statement on Saturday:
“We are grateful for the quick response from our law enforcement partners to ensure the staff members who worked in our office were safe. We are also grateful to the Minnesota Department of Health, which completed the initial analysis late in the evening of September 27.
Fear and intimidation of election workers will not be tolerated. New laws passed in 2023 make it very clear that it is a crime to intimidate election workers and interfere with the conduct of elections. Our focus remains on delivering free, fair, accurate and secure elections for the people of Minnesota.”
New laws that protect election workers will take effect in Minnesota in 2023. These new laws guarantee protections for election workers when it comes to intimidation, government interference, doxing, obstructing access to polling places, ballot tampering, tampering with the statewide voter registration system, registration list or poll burner.
