What to Know About the Russia-Linked Bomb Threats in Battleground States on Election Day
An already heated presidential race faced further strain from a string of reported bomb threats in battleground states—causing some delays on Election Day.
The FBI said in a statement it was aware of the threats, many of which originated from Russian email domains, but the agency also downplayed their risk. “None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the statement said.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]In Pennsylvania, a polling place in West Chester was evacuated because of a threat, according to Josh Maxwell, chair of the Chester County Board of Elections. The Government Services Center was searched by dogs, and voters at the two polling stations in the center were redirected to neighboring polling places that extended their voting hours to accommodate them.
A Pennsylvania judge also granted a motion to extend voting in Clearfield County, northeast of Pittsburgh, after a bomb threat targeted an administrative building where votes were being counted, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said his team was coordinating with state authorities, who are investigating the threats. “Thus far, there is no credible threat to the public,” Shapiro said Tuesday night.
Pennsylvania earlier on Tuesday faced unrelated, unsubstantiated allegations of “massive cheating” from former President Donald Trump, prompting authorities to dismiss his claims as “disinformation” with “no factual basis.”
In Georgia, several voting locations extended their hours due to bomb threats, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as reported by CNN. “We identify the source that it was from Russia,” he said in an earlier press conference.
Officials in DeKalb County, where five polling places suspended voting due to bomb threats, said no bombs were found, and voters were able to re-enter the polling booths and vote.
Fulton County Police Chief W. Wade Yates said that out of 177 polling places in the county, 32 faced bomb threats, and five required evacuation and had their hours extended as a result. Yates said authorities intend to prosecute those who made the threats.
Officials in Wisconsin and Michigan also confirmed bomb threats in several polling locations in the state, according to ABC7 Chicago. And Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said Tuesday that four locations in Navajo County faced bomb threats that federal and state authorities dismissed as “not credible.” Fontes said the threats came from emails with Russian domains, and that the motive looks to be to “ensue chaos” and not to “impact any political outcome.”
Cait Conley, Senior Advisor to the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the agency is not tracking “any significant incidents with national level impact” to elections at the moment, but warned that “foreign adversaries” may continue “malign influence operations” in the coming days.
Russia has denied any claims of interference. A statement from the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., said: “We would like to emphasize that Russia has not interfered and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, including the United States. As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed, we respect the will of the American people.”