Voting in Key Swing State Starts With a Bang, Almost Literally

The fake bomb threats that shut down two Georgia polling sites on Election Day stemmed from a “foreign state actor,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger revealed on Tuesday.

“We pretty well dispelled that very quickly,” Raffensperger said at a press conference. “But we want to make sure everything stays safe.… That was this morning, and law enforcement jumped right on that, and we knew it was coming from a foreign state actor.”

Five bomb threats were called in to law enforcement officials in the state at two separate voting sites in Union City. Raffensperger added that the non-credible threats affected “five to seven different precincts” in the key swing state.

“Outside of these brief interruptions, Election Day has remained quiet,” a Fulton County official said at a press conference. “We remain ready and prepared to deal with any other potential disruptions.”

The FBI said in a statement that it was “aware” of several bomb threats to voting locations across the country that originated from Russian emails, noting that none of the threats have been credible “thus far.”

“Election integrity is among the FBI’s highest priorities,” the federal intelligence agency said. “We will continue to work closely with our state and local law enforcement partners to respond to any threats to our elections and to protect our communities as Americans exercise their right to vote.”