An envelope that arrived at the Bucks County Board of Elections Monday morning raised concern when an “expletive-laden” message was found inside, along with a “suspicious unknown substance,” county officials said in a statement.
The substance was found to be non-hazardous, but had insect parts and an “as-yet unidentified material.”
Several emergency services agencies responded to the incident at the 55 E. Court St. building, including building security at the administration complex, fire personnel, EMS and a hazmat team.
Officials said air conditioning was turned off throughout the building and work stopped at the BOE office. Staff that had been exposed were quarantined. All operations resumed before noon, once it was determined to be safe.
The Democratic chairman of the Bucks County commissioners, Bob Harvie, thanked all those who responded to the alarming event and offered strong criticism of the current political environment.
“Since the 2020 election, people in Bucks County have been misled by baseless and unfounded allegations and our Board of Elections have been subjected to unprecedented hostility as a result,” said Harvie, in a statement.
“Today’s incident was an example of the kind of idiotic and pathetic behavior which has been targeted at election workers around the nation.
“In a democracy, everyone deserves to have their voices heard. But, it is beyond unfortunate that the climate in our country has driven some extremists to believe this sort of incident – which stokes fear in the rank-and-file employees it most directly impacts and disrupts the peoples’ work – represents legitimate political discourse,” the chairman said.
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