More states hit with Russian-linked bomb threats

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the threats appeared to originate from Russia

Published November 5, 2024 8:45PM (EST)
Updated November 5, 2024 9:11PM (EST)
Voters cast their ballots at the Lucky Shoals Park Recreation Center on November 5, 2024 in Norcross, Georgia. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
Voters cast their ballots at the Lucky Shoals Park Recreation Center on November 5, 2024 in Norcross, Georgia. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Update (9:09 PM ET): More threats were reported at polling places in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Original story: More polling places in the metro Atlanta area had to be evacuated late on Tuesday evening after another round of bomb threats. 

DeKalb County Police Department searched five polling places in the towns of Decatur, Lithonia and Chamblee in the final hour of voting in the state.  

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Raffensperger said the affected polling places in DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett Counties would stay open late to account for the lost time. DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond stressed the integrity of elections in the area in a statement

"Every asset we have will be deployed to ensure that every citizen that wants to vote will be given that opportunity and every vote cast will be counted," Thurmond said.

It was the second time that bomb threats had disrupted voting in the Atlanta area on Election Day. At a press conference discussing those earlier threats, Raffensperger said that at least one of the threats was Russian in origin.

“They’re up to mischief, it seems,” Raffensperger said. “They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.” 

The FBI's Atlanta office seemed to support Raffensperger's findings, saying that many of the bomb threats "appeared to originate from Russian email domains" and that "none of the threats have been determined to be credible."

The bomb threats came on the same day that a federal judge tossed a lawsuit from the Republican National Committee that hoped to "segregate" absentee ballots returned in person over the weekend in several metro Atlanta counties. 

 


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