Moscow has described as “malicious slander” stories that pretend bomb threats directed at polling areas in four battleground states in america election – Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin – originated from Russian electronic mail domains and have been a part of an interference operation.
A number of polling websites focused by the scares in Georgia have been briefly evacuated on Tuesday.
“Not one of the threats have been decided to be credible to this point,” the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in a press release, noting that most of the hoax bomb warnings “seem to originate from Russian electronic mail domains”.
An FBI official stated that Georgia obtained greater than two dozen threats, most of which occurred in Fulton County, which encompasses a lot of Atlanta, a Democratic Celebration stronghold.
The threats led to 2 polling locations in Fulton County, Georgia, being evacuated. Each areas re-opened after about half-hour, officers stated, and the county was looking for a court docket order to increase the placement’s voting hours previous the state-wide 7pm (00:00 GMT) deadline for closing.
The FBI is conscious of bomb threats to polling areas in a number of states, lots of which seem to originate from Russian electronic mail domains. Not one of the threats have been decided to be credible to this point. https://t.co/j3YfajVK1m
— FBI (@FBI) November 5, 2024
About an hour earlier than polls have been to shut, officers in DeKalb County, Georgia, stated they obtained bomb threats towards 5 polling locations.
Officers within the overwhelmingly Democratic suburb stated voting had been suspended on the areas till police confirmed there have been no bombs. A court docket order could be sought to increase voting, which is routine in Georgia when a polling place is disrupted, officers stated.
Bomb threats have been additionally despatched to 2 polling areas in Wisconsin’s state capital Madison, however didn’t disrupt voting, the top of the Wisconsin Elections Fee, Ann Jacobs stated.
A spokesperson for Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state, stated there had been stories of bomb threats at a number of polling areas, however none was credible. Benson’s workplace had been notified that the threats could also be tied to Russia, the spokesperson stated.
Adrian Fontes, a Democrat and Arizona’s secretary of state, the chief election official within the swing state, stated 4 pretend bomb threats had additionally been delivered to polling websites in Navajo County, Arizona.
Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger laid the blame immediately on Russia.
“They’re as much as mischief, it appears. They don’t need us to have a clean, truthful and correct election, and if they’ll get us to struggle amongst ourselves, they’ll depend that as a victory,” Raffensperger instructed reporters.
The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC stated insinuations about Russian interference within the election have been “malicious slander”.
“We want to emphasise that Russia has not interfered and doesn’t intervene within the inner affairs of different international locations, together with america. As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly confused, we respect the desire of the American individuals,” the embassy stated.
US intelligence officers have accused Russia of interfering in earlier US presidential elections, particularly via cyber-operations within the 2016 race which the present Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, received towards Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The US later indicted 12 Russian army intelligence officers for his or her alleged roles in interfering within the 2016 election.
A senior US cyber official stated her company had not seen any vital incidents on this Election Day.
Cait Conley, of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company, instructed reporters there had been little proof of serious disruption to election infrastructure.
“At this level, we aren’t at present monitoring any nationwide stage vital incidents impacting safety of our election infrastructure,” stated Conley, whose company is chargeable for defending vital American infrastructure, together with election infrastructure.
