By Tim Reid and Sarah N. Lynch
ATLANTA (Reuters) – Hoax bomb threats, lots of which appeared to originate from Russian e-mail domains, have been directed at polling places in three battleground states – Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin – as Election Day voting was underway, the FBI mentioned on Tuesday.
“None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the FBI mentioned in an announcement, including that election integrity was among the many bureau’s highest priorities.
At the very least two polling websites focused by the hoax bomb threats in Georgia have been briefly evacuated on Tuesday.
These two places in Fulton County each re-opened after about half-hour, officers mentioned, and the county is looking for a court docket order to increase the situation’s voting hours previous the statewide 7 p.m. deadline.
Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger blamed Russian interference for the Election Day bomb hoaxes.
“They’re up to mischief, it seems. They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election, and if they can get us to fight among ourselves, they can count that as a victory,” Raffensperger advised reporters.
The Russian embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Reuters couldn’t instantly decide what number of hoax bomb threats have been acquired in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Adrian Fontes, a Democrat and the Arizona Secretary of State, the chief election official within the swing state, mentioned 4 faux bomb threats had been delivered to polling websites in Navajo County, Arizona.
“Vladimir Putin is being a prick,” Fontes mentioned, referring to the Russian president.
Ann Jacobs, head of the Wisconsin Elections Fee, mentioned faux bomb threats have been despatched to 2 polling places within the state capital of Madison, however didn’t disrupt voting. Jacobs didn’t know if the threats have been linked to Russia.
An FBI official mentioned that Georgia alone acquired greater than two dozen, most of which occurred in Fulton County, which encompasses a lot of Atlanta, a Democratic stronghold.
A senior official in Raffensperger’s workplace, talking on the situation of anonymity to talk freely, mentioned the Georgia bomb hoaxes have been despatched from e-mail addresses that had been utilized by Russians making an attempt to intrude in earlier U.S. elections.
The threats have been despatched to U.S. media and the 2 polling places, the official mentioned. “It’s a likelihood it’s Russia,” the official mentioned.
Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump are locked in a good race to win the White Home. Opinion polls counsel the competition is simply too near name.
The phony bomb threats mark the most recent in a string of examples of alleged interference by the Russians within the 2024 election.
On Nov. 1, U.S. intelligence officers warned that Russian actors manufactured a video that falsely depicted Haitians illegally casting ballots in Georgia. Intelligence officers additionally discovered that the Russians created a separate phony video which falsely accused somebody related to the Harris presidential ticket of taking a bribe from an entertainer.
U.S. intelligence officers have additionally accused Russia of interfering in earlier U.S. presidential elections, particularly the 2016 race which Trump gained in opposition to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
