The Hamilton County Board of Elections administrative building in Norwood was evacuated around 10:50 a.m. Saturday after election workers discovered a suspicious substance in the mail, prompting a response from police and hazardous-material crews before the building was cleared for re-entry a short time later.
The evacuation affected the administrative building at 4700 Smith Road, not the nearby Early Voting Center, according to wlwt.com. Voters continued casting ballots unimpeded there throughout the incident, with early in-person voting available Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Hamilton County Board of Elections later confirmed on its website that authorities had authorized re-entry to the building, though the notice did not detail how long the evacuation lasted.
As reported by WCPO 9 Cincinnati, police and a hazmat team evaluated the situation at the Norwood site before clearing the administrative building, per a county news release. The outlet reported that only the administrative building was affected and that the Early Voting Center saw people lining up to vote even as the response played out next door.
Elections Officials Praise Quick Response
Hamilton County Board of Elections Director Sherry Poland said in a statement that the safety of staff and the public came first. “The safety of our employees and of the public is our highest priority,” Poland said, per the station's report. Poland also thanked responders and the public, saying, “We appreciate the prompt response of the police and hazardous materials personnel and are grateful for the cooperation of everyone involved in the evacuation.”
According to WCPO, Poland and Deputy Director Raquel Burgos jointly said that employee and public safety was their highest priority and expressed appreciation for the prompt response from police and hazardous materials personnel. Voters with questions about Saturday's early voting hours can reach the Hamilton County Board of Elections at 513-946-8500.
Part Of A Wider Pattern Of Threats To Election Offices
The Norwood incident comes as federal authorities investigate a string of similar suspicious-substance mailings sent to congressional and election offices across the country, according to wtop.com. The FBI said in a statement that some of the letters contained an unknown substance, adding that investigators are “working closely with our law enforcement partners to respond to each incident.”
Packages containing a powdery substance triggered evacuations at election offices in Louisiana and Oklahoma the week before the Norwood incident, the outlet reported. Ohio's secretary of state said the Postal Service intercepted a separate package containing white powder that was addressed to that office. The pattern echoes a 2023 wave of mailings in which election offices in six states received letters containing white powder. In a separate case discussed in the 2026 report, Wisconsin officials said tests determined the powder was not hazardous.
The Election Assistance Commission, working jointly with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, maintains guidance for election offices on identifying suspicious mail and responding to potential hazardous-material exposure, according to the agency's election official security resources. For now, Hamilton County's elections office is back open, and early voting in Norwood is proceeding on schedule.
