After powder threats, election offices look to Narcan and PPE
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Election officials in Washington state and around the country are stocking up on overdose reversal medication after several election offices received fentanyl-laced letters last month.
- Others are looking at buying more personal protective equipment for election workers.
Catch up quick: Envelopes that tested positive for fentanyl were sent to election offices in several states, including Washington, after the Nov. 7 election.
- That's caused Washington's secretary of state to issue new guidance allowing counties to use some of their election security money to buy personal protective equipment.
- It's also caused local election officials from Washington state to Georgia to start stocking naloxone, a drug to reverse opioid overdoses.
Why it matters: Election workers are concerned about threats to their safety leading up to the 2024 elections, including from those who believe false claims about workers rigging or altering results.
- The Department of Justice has said threats to election workers are on the rise, especially in key battleground states for the 2024 presidential election.
- Former President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee next year, has been indicted on felony charges related to his effort to overturn the 2020 election while falsely claiming it was fraudulent.
Of note: While some of the letters addressed to election offices were intercepted before they were opened, other offices were evacuated for hours, temporarily delaying the counting of votes.
Details: Officials at the King County Elections office near Seattle began stocking overdose reversal medication, commonly known as Narcan, after the August primary, when it got its first letter with fentanyl, spokesperson Halei Watkins told Axios.
- Two or three divisions of the Washington secretary of state's office are also in the process of buying doses, while a few others have it on hand already, spokesperson Derrick Nunnally told Axios this week.
- Election officials in Spokane County, which received a letter containing fentanyl last month, are considering buying Narcan as well, auditor Vicky Dalton told Axios.
Meanwhile, In Georgia, where another county office was sent a fentanyl-laced letter last month, the secretary of state's office has offered to "make available Narcan-type overdose response kits to those election offices who request them," spokesperson Mike Hassinger told Axios.
- Officials in Cherokee County, Georgia, who didn't receive a letter, confirmed to Axios that they have started stocking the medication.
Plus: The Associated Press reported last month that local election officials in Lane County, Oregon; Lincoln County, Nevada; Seminole County, Florida; and Pierce County, Washington, were also acquiring naloxone kits or already had done so.
What they're saying: "While the risk of injury from fentanyl through the skin is fairly low, we felt like it was the right thing in general to have Narcan on hand these days," Watkins of King County told Axios.
What we're watching: The FBI is still investigating who sent the letters and can't comment further about the status of the case, a spokesperson told Axios via email this week.
- Local election officials said they've also been working on other safety precautions, such as updating potential evacuation routes and internal mail handling procedures, as they prepare for next year.