Kansas, Oklahoma officials receive suspicious mail with white powder substance

TOPEKA — Suspicious mail received Monday at the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office prompted an evacuation in what appears to be a spree of similar deliveries.

Memorial Hall, which houses both the secretary of state and attorney general offices in Topeka, was one of at least five state elections-related offices that received such a package Monday. Others included Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

Clay Barker, general counsel to Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, said the Kansas office was on alert after staff were briefed Monday that Nebraska’s election office had received a package with white powder, which turned out to be harmless, and a return address that referenced “traitors.” When the Kansas office received a similar piece of mail later in the day, he said, staff notified the Kansas Highway Patrol, which ordered the building be evacuated out of an abundance of caution.

KHP issued the evacuation alert shortly after 2 p.m. April McCollum, a spokeswoman for KHP, acknowledged an inquiry for this story but didn’t provide information about what happened.


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