Election Offices in at Least 32 States Have Received Suspicious Letters
Election Offices in at Least 32 States Have Received Suspicious Letters
At 12:20 pm last Tuesday, an official in the Louisiana secretary of state’s office opened a mailed letter and white powder fell out. The office was immediately evacuated and the employee was rushed to the emergency room. The employee was not injured, and subsequent tests showed that the substance was not harmful. By Wednesday, the office was back open.
上周二中午12点20分，路易斯安那州州务卿办公室的一名官员在拆开一封邮寄信件时，里面掉出了白色粉末。办公室随即被紧急疏散，该员工被送往急诊室。这名员工并未受伤，随后的检测显示该物质并无害。到周三，办公室已恢复办公。
“Tuesday’s event did not impact any election operations in preparation for the upcoming election,” Trey Williams, a spokesperson for Louisiana’s secretary of state, tells WIRED. But the incident was not isolated. A WIRED investigation has found that over the course of the following days, election offices in at least 31 other states were targeted with similar letters as they prepared for the midterms that are now just two weeks away.
路易斯安那州州务卿发言人特雷·威廉姆斯（Trey Williams）告诉《连线》（WIRED）杂志：“周二的事件没有影响为即将到来的选举所做的任何准备工作。”但这一事件并非孤立。一项《连线》的调查发现，在随后的几天里，至少有其他31个州的选举办公室在准备距离现在仅剩两周的中期选举时，也收到了类似的信件。
Many of the states have made public statements acknowledging the receipt of these letters, but WIRED’s accounting of all the incidents shows the full scale of this campaign for the first time. The vast majority of letters were intercepted by the United States Postal Service before they reached their intended targets, state officials tell WIRED, but in Arizona, Delaware, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Louisiana the letters were not intercepted, leading to election offices being evacuated when white powder was discovered.
许多州已发表公开声明承认收到了这些信件，但《连线》对所有事件的统计首次展示了此次行动的全部规模。州政府官员告诉《连线》，绝大多数信件在到达目的地前就被美国邮政署拦截了，但在亚利桑那州、特拉华州、俄克拉荷马州、南卡罗来纳州和路易斯安那州，信件未能被拦截，导致在发现白色粉末后，这些州的选举办公室被迫疏散。
The states that confirmed receipt of a letter are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
确认收到信件的州包括：阿拉斯加州、亚利桑那州、加利福尼亚州、康涅狄格州、特拉华州、佛罗里达州、佐治亚州、爱达荷州、伊利诺伊州、堪萨斯州、路易斯安那州、缅因州、马里兰州、马萨诸塞州、明尼苏达州、密西西比州、内布拉斯加州、新罕布什尔州、新墨西哥州、北达科他州、俄亥俄州、俄克拉荷马州、俄勒冈州、宾夕法尼亚州、南卡罗来纳州、南达科他州、田纳西州、犹他州、弗吉尼亚州、华盛顿州、威斯康星州和怀俄明州。
Election officials in 10 states—Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia—and DC tell WIRED they have not received any suspicious packages. The eight remaining state election offices did not respond. The white powder contained in the letters that have been opened so far has been reported as not harmful, but election offices remain on high alert.
科罗拉多州、印第安纳州、肯塔基州、密歇根州、纽约州、北卡罗来纳州、罗德岛州、得克萨斯州、佛蒙特州、西弗吉尼亚州这10个州以及华盛顿特区的选举官员告诉《连线》，他们没有收到任何可疑包裹。其余8个州的选举办公室未予置评。目前已拆开的信件中所含的白色粉末据报告并无害，但各选举办公室仍保持高度警惕。
“We are deeply concerned by these incidents,” the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors wrote in a joint statement. “As we have each stated in the past, threats against election officials and workers have no place in our democracy. Those who administer our elections should never fear for their safety while carrying out their essential duties.”
“我们对这些事件深感关切，”全美州务卿协会和全美州选举主管协会在一份联合声明中写道。“正如我们过去所言，针对选举官员和工作人员的威胁在我们的民主制度中没有立足之地。那些管理我们选举的人在履行其基本职责时，绝不应担心自身安全。”
As news of the letters being sent emerged last week, federal agencies alerted other election offices in some states that a potentially dangerous package was on the way. The FBI notified authorities in Alaska on Friday that an envelope was expected to arrive the following day. At about 9 am Saturday morning, the USPS identified the suspicious package, the Juneau Independent reported.
随着上周有关信件寄出的消息传出，联邦机构提醒一些州的选举办公室，可能有危险包裹正在寄送途中。联邦调查局周五通知阿拉斯加当局，预计第二天会收到一个信封。据《朱诺独立报》（Juneau Independent）报道，周六上午9点左右，美国邮政署识别出了该可疑包裹。
In Utah, officials told WIRED on Friday that they were preparing for a threatening letter to be sent. “We have been in contact with postal service employees who are actively monitoring our mail for a similar letter so they can intercept it before it reaches our office,” a spokesperson for Utah lieutenant governor Deidre Henderson told WIRED. On Sunday, Henderson posted an image of the suspicious letter that had been intercepted to Threads. The letter was sent in a white envelope with a handwritten address on the front.
在犹他州，官员周五告诉《连线》，他们正在为可能收到的威胁信做准备。犹他州副州长迪德雷·亨德森（Deidre Henderson）的发言人告诉《连线》：“我们一直与邮政服务人员保持联系，他们正在积极监控我们的邮件，以便在类似信件到达我们办公室之前将其拦截。”周日，亨德森在Threads上发布了一张被拦截的可疑信件的照片。这封信装在一个白色信封里，正面有手写的地址。
The top-left-hand corner of the letter lists the sender as DSA, seemingly standing for the Democratic Socialists of America organization, with the New York zip code associated with the group. The DSA has denied any involvement in the campaign. Like many election officials responding to this apparent intimidation, Henderson was defiant. “Nothing is going to disrupt the midterm election,” she said. “We won’t let it happen.”
信件左上角列出的寄件人为DSA，似乎代表“美国民主社会主义者”（Democratic Socialists of America）组织，并附有与该组织相关的纽约邮政编码。DSA已否认参与此次行动。像许多应对这种明显恐吓的选举官员一样，亨德森表现得很强硬。她说：“没有任何事情会破坏中期选举。我们不会让它发生。”
The US Postal Service directed WIRED to the FBI when reached for comment, and the FBI refused to say how many letters it had identified as part of this campaign or whether it had any leads on who was behind the campaign. “The FBI and US Postal Inspection Service are investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide, including Secretary of State offices and their related election offices,” the FBI tells WIRED in a statement. “Some of the letters contained an unknown substance, and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners to respond to each incident.”
当《连线》联系美国邮政署寻求置评时，对方将问题转给了联邦调查局，而联邦调查局拒绝透露作为此次行动一部分的信件数量，也拒绝透露是否有关于幕后黑手的线索。联邦调查局在声明中告诉《连线》：“联邦调查局和美国邮政检查局正在调查一系列寄往全国各地地址的可疑邮件，其中包括州务卿办公室及其相关的选举办公室。部分信件含有不明物质，我们正与执法合作伙伴密切合作，以应对每一起事件。”
“Based on the events in other states, we were notified to expect a suspicious letter, but it was intercepted by the USPS and [Homeland Security Investigations] before it got to our office,” Elizabeth Jonson, a spokesperson for the Mississippi secretary of state, tells WIRED. “It has now been turned over to the FBI, and we were informed the contents were nonhazardous.”
密西西比州州务卿发言人伊丽莎白·琼森（Elizabeth Jonson）告诉《连线》：“根据其他州发生的事件，我们接到通知称可能会收到一封可疑信件，但它在到达我们办公室之前就被美国邮政署和国土安全调查局拦截了。目前该信件已移交给联邦调查局，我们获悉其内容物并无危险。”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson says that its “Federal Protective Service has responded to a series of suspicious-letter incidents affecting congressional offices in federal facilities over the past week,” though they did not comment on the letters sent to election offices.
国土安全部发言人表示，其“联邦保护局在过去一周内应对了一系列影响联邦设施内国会办公室的可疑信件事件”，但他们未对寄往选举办公室的信件发表评论。
The letters targeting election offices coincided with similar letters being sent to congressional offices across the country, targeting both Democratic and some Republican lawmakers, including senators Ted Cruz, Chris Murphy, and Alex Padilla. One letter was sent to Michigan representative Hillary Scholten, a Democrat, who said in a statement that it warned of an impending “civil war” beginning after the midterms.
针对选举办公室的信件与全国各地寄往国会办公室的类似信件同时发生，目标包括民主党和部分共和党议员，其中包括参议员泰德·克鲁兹（Ted Cruz）、克里斯·墨菲（Chris Murphy）和亚历克斯·帕迪利亚（Alex Padilla）。其中一封信寄给了密歇根州民主党众议员希拉里·肖尔滕（Hillary Scholten），她在声明中表示，信中警告称中期选举后将爆发一场“内战”。
“Threats and intimidation have no place in our elections,” Michel Moore, the cochair of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections, tells WIRED. “Professionals responsible for administering and protecting our elections have established plans, practiced their responses, and are working together to keep election workers and voters safe.”
“威胁和恐吓在我们的选举中没有立足之地，”安全与可靠选举委员会联合主席米歇尔·摩尔（Michel Moore）告诉《连线》。“负责管理和保护我们选举的专业人员已经制定了计划，演练了应对措施，并正在共同努力确保选举工作人员和选民的安全。”