FBI investigating bomb threats at Georgia polling places
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - The FBI and Georgia election officials are looking into a series of bomb threats that forced some polling locations to temporarily close on Election Day.
The threats were reported throughout the day at polling locations in three metro Atlanta counties, all with large numbers of Democratic voters, and into the evening at Pennsylvania polling places and election offices where ballots were being counted.
Bomb threats were also reported in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to state election officials.
Was Georgia election impacted by bomb threats?
Bomb threats topped headlines across Georgia from multiple polling locations. They closed down momentarily, and ended up staying open later. Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger said Georgia's fast reaction time thwarted any impact the bad actors responsible were hoping to create.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that Georgia would "not be intimidated" by any threats towards the voting process.
"That just shows you the resilience of our system and our people. We’re battle-tested," Raffensperger said.
In Fulton County, 32 of 177 polling places received bomb threats and five were briefly evacuated. The polling locations were able to reopen after the threats.
Fulton County officials say an officer was stationed at each polling location for voter safety.
"We planned heavily for bomb threat and good thing we did," one Fulton County law enforcement official said at an election update on Tuesday.
A voter enters the polling station at Lucky Shoals Park Recreation Center on Nov. 5, 2024, in Norcross, Georgia. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
In DeKalb County, six polling locations received bomb threats, including the Reid Coffer Library off LaVista Road in Tucker.
"I went around the Kroger to the main entrance, and I tried to turn left, and there were a bunch of cops and people saying ‘Don’t turn in. You have to come back later,'" voter Lelia Cryor said.
Thankfully, none of the threats were deemed credible. The FBI said many hoax bomb threats in several states appeared to originate from Russian email domains, though federal cybersecurity officials cautioned that the culprits were not necessarily Russian.
Raffensperger will give another update on the election at the Georgia Capitol at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.