Baking Soda Prompts Hazmat Response At Roxbury Polling Location

BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- A Roxbury polling place was briefly evacuated Tuesday evening as police investigated a report of a hazmat incident, but was reopened a short time later.

Police received a call around 4:30 p.m. about an unknown white substance found in an envelope at 735 Shawmut Avenue. They later said they had determined the substance to be "innocuous and not suspicious in nature."

Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin's office said around 5:30 p.m. that the polling location had been reopened, no voters were turned away during the incident, and the location remained open until 8 p.m.

WBZ-TV's Louisa Moller reported that the substance was baking soda with an absentee ballot.


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