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至少32个州的选举办公室收到可疑信件Election Offices in at Least 32 States Have Received Suspicious Letters

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上周二中午12点20分,路易斯安那州州务卿办公室的一名工作人员打开了一封寄来的信件,结果有白色粉末从信件中掉落。办公室立即被疏散,涉事员工被送往急诊室。幸运的是,该员工并未受伤,后续检测也证实这种物质并无危害性。到周三时,办公室已恢复正常运作。

At 12:20 pm last Tuesday, an official in the Louisiana secretary of state’s office opened a mailed letter and white powder fell out. The office was immediately evacuated and the employee was rushed to the emergency room. The employee was not injured and subsequent tests showed that the substance was not harmful. By Wednesday, the office was back open.

“周二发生的事件并未影响到为即将到来的选举所做的任何准备工作,”路易斯安那州州务卿的发言人特雷·威廉姆斯(Trey Williams)告诉《WIRED》杂志。

“Tuesday’s event did not impact any election operations in preparation for the upcoming election,” Trey Williams, a spokesperson for Louisiana’s secretary of state, tells WIRED.

然而,这并非个例。《WIRED》杂志的调查发现,在接下来的几天里,至少还有31个州的选举办公室也收到了类似的信件。这些州都在为两周后举行的中期选举做准备。虽然许多州已经公开表示收到了这些信件,但《WIRED》杂志的统计报告首次揭示了这一系列事件的全面情况。

But the incident was not isolated. A WIRED investigation has found that over the course of the following days, election offices in at least 31 other states were targeted with similar letters as they prepared for the midterms that are now just two weeks away. Many of the states have made public statements acknowledging the receipt of these letters, but WIRED’s accounting of all the incidents shows the full scale of this campaign for the first time.

州官员们向《WIRED》杂志透露,绝大多数信件在到达目的地之前就被美国邮政部门截获了;不过在亚利桑那州、特拉华州、俄克拉荷马州、南卡罗来纳州和路易斯安那州,这些信件未能被拦截,导致当地选举办公室在发现白色粉末后被迫疏散。

The vast majority of letters were intercepted by the United States Postal Service before they reached their intended targets, state officials tell WIRED, but in Arizona, Delaware, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Louisiana the letters were not intercepted, leading to election offices being evacuated when white powder was discovered.

确认收到这些信件的州包括:阿拉斯加州、亚利桑那州、加利福尼亚州、康涅狄格州、特拉华州、佛罗里达州、乔治亚州、爱达荷州、伊利诺伊州、堪萨斯州、路易斯安那州、缅因州、马里兰州、马萨诸塞州、明尼苏达州、密西西比州、内布拉斯加州、新罕布什尔州、新墨西哥州、北达科他州、俄亥俄州、俄克拉荷马州、俄勒冈州、宾夕法尼亚州、南卡罗来纳州、南达科他州、田纳西州、犹他州、弗吉尼亚州、华盛顿州和怀俄明州。

The states that confirmed receipt of a letter are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

另有10个州的选举官员(佛蒙特州、密歇根州、纽约州、罗德岛州、德克萨斯州、西弗吉尼亚州、科罗拉多州、肯塔基州、印第安纳州和北卡罗来纳州)向《WIRED》杂志表示他们没有收到任何可疑包裹。另外8个州的选举办公室则没有回复《WIRED》的询问。

Election officials in 10 states—Vermont, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, Texas, West Virginia, Colorado, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina—and DC tell WIRED they have not received any suspicious packages. The eight remaining state election offices did not respond.

迄今为止已拆开的信件中所含的白色粉末被报告为无害,但选举办公室仍保持高度警戒。

The white powder contained in the letters that have been opened so far has been reported as not harmful, but election offices remain on high alert.

“我们对这些事件深感担忧,”全国州务卿协会和全国州选举主任协会在一份联合声明中写道。“正如我们过去每次所言,针对选举官员和工作人员的威胁在我们的民主中没有立足之地。负责选举的人员在履行其基本职责时,绝不应为自身安全而担忧。”随着上周这些信件被寄出的消息传出,联邦机构警告了一些州的其他选举办公室,称一份潜在危险的包裹正在途中。

“We are deeply concerned by these incidents,” the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors wrote in a joint statement. “As we have each stated in the past, threats against election officials and workers have no place in our democracy. Those who administer our elections should never fear for their safety while carrying out their essential duties.”As news of the letters being sent emerged last week, federal agencies alerted other election offices in some states that a potentially dangerous package was on the way.

FBI 周五通知阿拉斯加当局,一封信封预计将在次日到达。周六上午约 9 点,美国邮政局识别出了该可疑包裹,《朱诺独立报》报道了此事。

The FBI notified authorities in Alaska on Friday that an envelope was expected to arrive the following day. At about 9 am Saturday morning, the USPS identified the suspicious package, the Juneau Independent reported.

在犹他州,官员们周五对《WIRED》表示,他们正在为一封威胁信的到来做准备。“我们一直在与邮政服务员工保持联系,他们正在积极监控我们的邮件,以便在类似信件到达我们办公室之前将其拦截,”犹他州副州长迪德雷·亨德森的发言人对《WIRED》表示。周日,亨德森在 Threads 上发布了一张被拦截的可疑信件图片。该信件装在一个白色信封内,正面有手写地址。

In Utah, officials told WIRED on Friday that they were preparing for a threatening letter to be sent. “We have been in contact with postal service employees who are actively monitoring our mail for a similar letter so they can intercept it before it reaches our office,” a spokesperson for Utah lieutenant governor Deidre Henderson told WIRED. On Sunday, Henderson posted an image of the suspicious letter that had been intercepted to Threads. The letter was sent in a white envelope with a handwritten address on the front.

信件左上角列出发件人为 DSA,看来代表的是美国民主社会主义者组织,并附有该组织关联的纽约邮政编码。DSA 已否认参与此次行动。

The top left hand corner of the letter lists the sender as DSA, seemingly standing for the Democratic Socialists of America organization, with the New York ZIP code associated with the group. The DSA has denied any involvement in the campaign.

像许多对这种明显恐吓作出回应的选举官员一样,亨德森表现得十分坚决。她说:“没有任何事情会扰乱中期选举。我们不会让它发生。”美国邮政署在接受《连线》采访时将记者指向联邦调查局,联邦调查局拒绝透露他们已确认了多少封信件是此次行动的一部分,也未说明是否有关于幕后主使的线索。

Like many election officials responding to this apparent intimidation, Henderson was defiant. “Nothing is going to disrupt the midterm election,” she said. “We won’t let it happen.”The US Postal Service directed WIRED to the FBI when reached for comment, and the FBI refused to say how many letters it had identified as part of this campaign or whether it had any leads on who was behind the campaign.

联邦调查局在一份声明中告诉《连线》:“联邦调查局和美国邮政检查局正在调查一系列寄往全国各地的可疑邮件,包括州务卿办公室及其相关选举办公室的邮件。”声明称:“部分信件内含未知物质,我们正与执法合作伙伴密切配合,针对每一起事件进行响应。”

“The FBI and US Postal Inspection Service are investigating a series of suspicious mailings sent to various addresses nationwide, including Secretary of State offices and their related election offices,” the FBI tells WIRED in a statement. “Some of the letters contained an unknown substance and we are working closely with our law enforcement partners to respond to each incident.”

密西西比州州务卿发言人伊丽莎白·乔森对《连线》表示:“根据其他州的情况,我们已被通知可能会收到可疑信件,但该信件已被美国邮政署和国土安全调查局在送达我们办公室前拦截。”她补充说:“该信件现已移交联邦调查局,我们获悉其内容并无危害。”国土安全部发言人称,其“联邦保护局已对过去一周内在联邦设施内影响国会办公室的一系列可疑信件事件作出响应”,但未对寄往选举办公室的信件作出评论。

“Based on the events in other states, we were notified to expect a suspicious letter, but it was intercepted by the USPS and [Homeland Security Investigations] before it got to our office,” Elizabeth Jonson, a spokesperson for the Mississippi secretary of state, tells WIRED. “It has now been turned over to the FBI, and we were informed the contents were non-hazardous.”A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson says that its “Federal Protective Service has responded to a series of suspicious-letter incidents affecting congressional offices in federal facilities over the past week,” though they did not comment on the letters sent to election offices.

针对选举办公室的信件恰逢全国各地向国会办公室寄送的类似信件同步出现,目标包括民主党和部分共和党议员,其中包括参议员泰德·克鲁兹、克里斯·墨菲和亚历克斯·帕迪利亚。密歇根州民主党众议员希拉里·舒尔滕收到的一封信中警告称,选举后将爆发一场“内战”。

The letters targeting election offices coincided with similar letters being sent to congressional offices across the country, targeting both Democratic and some Republican lawmakers including senators Ted Cruz, Chris Murphy, and Alex Padilla. One letter was sent to Michigan representative Hillary Scholten, a Democrat, who said in a statement that it warned of an impending “civil war” beginning after the midterms.

“威胁和恐吓在我们的选举中没有立足之地,”安全可靠选举委员会联合主席米歇尔·摩尔对《连线》杂志表示。“负责管理和保护我们选举的专业人士已经制定了计划,演练了应对措施,并正在共同努力保障选举工作人员和选民的安全。”

“Threats and intimidation have no place in our elections,” Michel Moore, the co-chair of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections, tells WIRED. “Professionals responsible for administering and protecting our elections have established plans, practiced their responses, and are working together to keep election workers and voters safe.”

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