Suspicious ballot prompts hazmat, evacuation in West Chester

A mail-in ballot is now in the hands of the FBI after an election worker flagged it while sorting through ballots this morning. This is the News at Five. I'm Dawn Timoney. This suspicious ballot investigation comes just days before voters head to the polls in person. Our Jennifer Lee is live in front of the Government Services Building in Westchester, which was shut down for 90 minutes. Jen, that building was eventually cleared by hazmat workers. Yes, it was pretty intense and we're told that election worker with Voter Services here in Chester County called 9-1-1 after feeling a suspicious material inside that envelope and it's being described as a quote non-liquid substance. So let's take you to Sky Fox which was over here Market Street at the Government Services building. When hazmat crews were on scene, when that emergency response was right here, the Chester County District Attorney saying the worker was He was intaking mail-in ballots. this morning organizing and storing them for election day when he came across that suspicious envelope. The hazmat crew that was deployed checked for chemical and biological hazards inside the building. They eventually cleared it after 90 minutes and the workers who were exposed in that area were also isolated. They were monitored for safety and cleared as well. The chairman of the board of elections here in Chester County and the DA say election worker safety is a priority for them. It's not a job people are signing up to do quite often right now. They've been given every reason to feel unsafe, not specific to this incident, but just general attention on election workers. And we have a duty as elected officials to make sure that they're as safe as possible. They're truly doing a service, not just for the voters in this county, but everyone in the state. And voter services workers across this state are what make this election process happen. The Chester County DA says the ballot in question is now in the hands of the FBI, and that's to do further testing. We were told by the chairman of the Board of Elections that No mail-in ballots, no ballots were opened today, including the one containing that suspicious material that was flagged. Both of them tell us that they will remain on high alert leading up to Election Day, and they also say that an emergency operations center will be open on Tuesday, as it is on every Election Day. Dawn? All right, Jennifer Lee, live in Westchester for us. Thank you, Jen.