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Nebraska authorities found a "non-hazardous" substance in an envelope that prompted hazmat crews to respond to the Secretary of State's Elections Division office in downtown Lincoln on Monday morning, the state's top election official said. Emergency crews inundated the office at the Cornhusker Office Plaza near 13th and M streets at about 9:45 a.m.
Monday after election employees in Secretary of State Bob Evnen's office were mailed an envelope they identified as "suspicious," Evnen's office said in a news release. Staff isolated the envelope as the Nebraska State Patrol, Lincoln Fire and Rescue crews and the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department responded to the scene and removed it from the building. Investigators "identified a substance in the envelope, which was tested and found to be non-hazardous," Evnen's office said, offering no further details about what was inside the envelope — or where it came from.
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A spokesman for the State Patrol said it contained an unknown white powder. The envelope will be turned over to the FBI and U.S.
Postal Service authorities, according to both Evnen's office and the State Patrol. No one was injured in the incident. The State Patrol's spokesman deferred questions over the incident to a spokeswoman for the FBI's field office in Omaha, who declined to comment.
"The situation was quickly and safely resolved thanks to the swift action taken by our staff members, law enforcement and other first responders," Evnen said in a statement. The incident comes days after Evnen's office certified Nebraska's general election ballot, which will feature divisive questions over the future of abortion access, medical marijuana and a state-funded private school scholarship program — all of which faced legal challenges, among other controversies, ahead of Friday's certification deadline. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
