A threatening email to the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections arrived at 7:14 p.m. Friday and carried the subject line “Listen up.”

“I’ve planted a bomb (lead azide) in your office at 6740 Baymeadow Drive,” read the body of the email, obtained by The Capital and The Baltimore Sun. Lead azide is an inorganic compound that explodes when it reaches a certain temperature.

“It is small and hidden very well,” the email continued. “It probably won’t damage the building very much but it will wound lots of people when it explodes. I plan on remotely triggering the device’s detonation as soon as there is a large police presence.”

The email to the elections board in Anne Arundel County was among several bomb threats sent to Maryland Board of Election sites Friday night, as officials were in the process of canvassing ballots from this week’s presidential election, prompting evacuations and police responses, according to authorities.

State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis said in a post on the social media platform X around 9 p.m. that several board of elections received bomb threats. “Buildings are evacuated and everyone is safe,” he said.

“Safety is top concern- but we WILL resume canvassing tomorrow,” DeMarinis said in a subsequent post. “Cowardly threats whether from abroad or not shall not deter us. You have failed. Our democracy is strong, our staff is strong, our mission will be accomplished. Every vote counts, count every vote.”

Baltimore County Police said the department received a call around 8 p.m. Friday after the county’s board of elections received a threat via email. The police department posted on X around 10:33 p.m. that it was investigating the threat, and then again shortly before midnight to say the threat was unfounded and there was no danger to the community.

Police said several other jurisdictions also received emails around the same time, and all locations were searched and found to be safe. The investigation of the incident is ongoing.

Howard County Election Director Guy Mickley told The Sun that he was unaware of threats made to his office, but that his team evacuated after learning of other threats in the state.

Mickley said police responded, sweeping the area with a dog, and determined it was safe.

In Baltimore, Election Director Armstead Jones said he wasn’t aware of any threats received.

Gov. Wes Moore took to X late Friday night to share that his office was working with state and local officials regarding the threats, thanking first responders for their work.

“It is imperative that we continue to provide a safe space for those overseeing our election processes as we finish counting every ballot,” Moore said in a post. “Threats like this have no place in our state or in our democracy, and we will work to hold those involved accountable.”

After receiving the bomb threat Friday night, Anne Arundel County elections officials called 911 and “made an orderly evacuation of the building,” according to a Saturday email from Anne Arundel County Board of Elections Director David Garreis obtained by The Capital and The Sun.

The 23 employees who were in the building at the time waited in the parking lot for police to respond, Garreis wrote. Sgt. Chris Anderson, an Anne Arundel County Police Department spokesperson, said Saturday that officers responded around 7:20 p.m. Friday after receiving a call about a bomb threat at the elections board.

“We started working immediately with our K-9 teams,” Anderson said. “We started working with the Annapolis City (police) bomb squad. We started working with our Homeland Security and Intelligence Unit.”

Anderson added that Anne Arundel police networked with other jurisdictions, finding that several had received similar threats.

“There were multiple areas throughout the country, not just here in Maryland and Anne Arundel County, that received similar threats to government buildings, not just election sites,” he said.

He said law enforcement in Maryland is working with the FBI as they collectively try to get to the bottom of the bomb threats. The FBI’s Baltimore Field Office did not immediately return a message with questions Saturday afternoon.

Anne Arundel police utilized bomb-sniffing dogs to clear the building, Anderson said. It was deemed safe around 9:10 p.m.

“It took a considerable amount of time to determine that there wasn’t an actual device that we could locate,” Anderson added.

Garreis’ email said staff were dismissed for the night once police deemed the situation safe.

He added that county elections workers resumed processing provisional ballot applications Saturday morning and would continue working throughout the day.

Have a news tip? Contact Kiersten Hacker at khacker@baltsun.com.