Contents of suspicious ballot remain a mystery in Benton County
Testing is continuing on a suspicious ballot that temporarily stopped ballot counting in Kennewick on Tuesday.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate the slightly thicker than normal envelope that made its way to the Benton County Elections Division, said sheriff’s Sgt. Justin Gerry.
No one linked to the ballot envelope has been sick or hurt, he said. And investigators determined there wasn’t anything explosive inside.
Detectives are working with other agencies to figure out the contents. But it will likely take weeks before they know what’s in the envelope, Gerry said.
Election workers noticed the unusual envelope about 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, and shut down the facility out of an abundance of caution, County Auditor Brenda Chilton told the Tri-City Herald.
Tuesday was a special election day in Washington. School districts normally place their levy and bond measures on the ballot.
Kennewick, Richland and Grandview voters were asked to make decisions on levies in Benton County. The envelope was part of a batch of ballots picked up by workers from their Richland Post Office box.
In total, the auditor’s office received more than 28,000 ballots for the election.
After determining the office was safe, elections workers returned to the office about 3:30 p.m.
The envelope was isolated in a plastic bag and handled it with gloves, Chilton said following the discovery.
Gerry said the sheriff’s office believes there is no threat to the county election office.