On Tuesday, bomb threats caused havoc at dozens of polling locations in at least five key swing states.
Voting precincts in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona were targeted with emailed threats that the FBI believes originated in Russia.
None of the threats were found to be credible, but they did cause at least some voters to delay casting their ballots. The threats appear to have primarily targeted Democratic-leaning areas.
On Tuesday, threats were received at more than 30 Georgia precincts, all of which are consolidated in the Atlanta metro area.
The precincts were in Dekalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties, which have all voted Democratic in recent presidential elections.
Dekalb and Fulton counties have been Democratic strongholds for decades, while Gwinnett has shifted blue since the 2016 presidential election.
Threats were made against polling locations in four Michigan counties that President Joe Biden won in the 2020 presidential election: Washtenaw, Wayne, Genesee, and Saginaw.
Dane County precincts in Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison were targeted. Biden won that region by more than 50 points in 2020, 75.7% to 22.9%.
Threats impacted key counties in Pennsylvania, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia, where both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have pinned their hopes for the presidency. Biden won all three areas in 2020, and Harris considers them critical this year.
On Tuesday, at least one Republican-leaning area received bomb threats. Four locations in Navajo County, Arizona, received false bomb threats.
Trump won the county in the northeastern part of the state by about 8 points in the previous presidential election.
Did the threats delay voting?
The threats halted voting in many of the affected precincts and, in some cases, resulted in extended voting hours.
According to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, multiple threats were made, but only one polling location was closed.
“All the locations were cleared…only one was briefly closed that was for about 23 minutes,” according to him. “I’ll say it again: phony bomb threats. There were no bombs, and no one was hurt. “No boom, none of that happened.”
Two polling locations in Chester County, Pennsylvania, remained open until 10 p.m. Officials confirmed Tuesday that a bomb threat was received at Chester County Government Services on election night. The building houses the county’s voter services center, but ballots are not counted there on election night.
Officials in nearby Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, said they have received no bomb threats, but law enforcement is on standby. York County, Pa., also received a threat, but local officials stated that the location was not closed and voting continued uninterrupted.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported that at least ten of the affected precincts remained open for an additional 20-40 minutes.
According to Ann Jacobs, the head of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, bomb threats at two Madison-area polling sites did not disrupt voting.
So far, voting rights groups in Georgia have not raised concerns that the threats have had a significant impact on voter turnout. However, some Democratic leaders have
Concerns of Russian interference
The FBI stated that the threats appeared to originate from Russian email domains. The bureau described election integrity as one of its “highest priorities,” and said it was working closely with state and local law enforcement to respond to threats and protect Americans’ right to vote.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, blamed Russia for the bomb hoaxes.
“It appears they’re up to mischief. They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair, and accurate election, and if they can get us to fight amongst ourselves, they’ll consider it a win,” Raffensperger said.
State and local officials in the affected areas are cooperating with the federal government to investigate the bomb hoaxes.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, responded to Russia’s apparent role in the threats by saying, “Vladimir Putin is being a prick.”
