Leon County Supervisor of Elections workers have white powder scare from mail-in ballot
Workers at the Leon County Supervisor of Elections were on high alert Friday morning after they thought they discovered white powder inside a mail-in ballot envelope.
Luckily, it was just a false alarm.
Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley said testing hasn't revealed exactly what the substance was, but it's been conclusive enough to show that it was "nothing dangerous at all."
"This was purely an accident," Earley said. "I think it was just somebody maybe voting at their breakfast table and it spilled from the sugar from their coffee."
No threats were made, and the voter that the ballot came from is a long-term voter with a good voting history, he said. It was a very small amount, so it was incredible that the worker who removed the ballot from its secrecy sleeve even noticed it.
But supervisors, who have become the subject of threats amid President Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen election, harp on keeping a lookout for stuff like this, Earley said. There's always a fear that ballots could be laced with toxic substances, like fentanyl or anthrax, that could harm workers and disrupt their processes, especially with recent incidents in the news.
"It was a very good training exercise," he said. "It shows that our protocols are very effective and in place."
At the first sign of the suspicious powder, workers shut down the air conditioning unit to the room the incident was isolated in. This keeps it from dispersing to the rest of the building in the event that the substance can become airborne. Then the room was evacuated and everyone washed their hands.
Earley said he carefully inspected the powder from a distance and could see that it wasn't powdery enough to become airborne, so he dumped it out on a blue piece of paper to send a picture to the hazmat team and sheriff.
He immediately called the Leon County Sheriff's Office, and per protocol, called the Secretary of State to alert them of the incident. Within minutes of the phone calls, the Tallahassee Fire Department and LCSO responded and began securing the scene.
In less than two and a half hours first responders gave the employees the "all clear" to continue working, and by noon, they were processing ballots in the room again.
"Their response was phenomenal," Earley said.
Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee, Leon County poll workers experience white powder scare
