Source: Megan Varner / Getty
Officials in Georgia and Arizona extended Election Day hours at Black and Indigenous polling places due to multiple hoax bomb threats called in, with some linked to Russian interference.
The presidential election race between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday (November 5) became more serious as several polling sites in Georgia, Arizona, and other states were beset by bomb threats, causing them to temporarily shut down. Federal and local officials have stated that they have credible information that the threats were part of election interference operations from Russia to create voter suppression. “The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains,” the agency said in a statement released to the press. “None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far.” Other states reporting similar bomb threats include Pennsylvania,
Three polling locations in major blue areas of Fulton, Cobb, and Gwinnett counties are going to stay open later because of bomb threats originating from Russia.
MAGA clowns were celebrating the disruption until they found out folks will now be able to vote even later. #gapol pic.twitter.com/T2QHFPC8iP
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) November 5, 2024
“We identified the source, and it was from Russia,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “They’re up to mischief, it seems, and they don’t want us to have a smooth, fair, and accurate election. Anything that can get us to fight amongst ourselves – they can count that as a victory.” There were more than one dozen threats to polling sites alone in Georgia, predominately in majority-Black and Democratic-leaning areas in the greater Atlanta area. In DeKalb County, seven locations received threats in one hour including churches.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes also blamed Russia for several bomb threats that were called in at polling stations in Navajo Nation communities. “We also have reason to believe, although I won’t get into specifics, that this comes from one of our foreign enemies, namely Russia,” he said to reporters in a news conference. Fontes also claimed that the threats came from a “.ru” email address, but whether or not it was a spoof is yet to be determined. He did say that federal and state officials are continuing to investigate.
Georgia extended their polling hours to close at 7:45 P.M., and Arizona stated the issue wouldn’t affect their polling. Federal officials have noted that it makes sense for Russia to inflict chaos during this time and warn it could increase over the next two months. “If chaos is the point, the most opportune window to create mischief is the post-November 5th pre-certification period,” said former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Chris Krebs.
BREAKING – Over 40 different fake bomb threats have now been called into Democratic-leaning polling places
And they’re coming from RUSSIA
This should literally be THE story right now — it is blatant and brazen election interference to steal the election for Trump
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) November 6, 2024
