Multiple Democratic-Leaning Swing State Precincts Get Extended Voting Hours After Bomb Threats

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Multiple precincts in Democratic-leaning areas have been granted extended voting hours after receiving bomb threats the FBI is saying are not credible, but nonetheless have disputed the Election Day process.

Media outlets reported earlier Tuesday evening that bombs threats had been called “into heavily black polling stations” in Georgia.

Overall, twelve precincts around the metropolitan Atlanta area were affected, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and were temporarily closed for periods lasting between 20 and 40 minutes. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced these precincts would get additional time corresponding with the length of time they were closed.

“Six precincts in DeKalb have received threats, along with five in Fulton and one in Gwinnett,” noted the AJC report. “All are in Democratic strongholds.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on similar bomb threats sent by email in Pennsylvania affecting “[a]t least nine locations,” including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia, Centre, and Luzerne Counties.

Several of the locations were temporarily evacuated so law enforcement could secure the premises. “No explosive materials were found,” reported the Inquirer. Local officials voiced their concerns to the paper, as the report noted, “The threats came at a critical moment late in Election Day when the last set of voters would be lining up, and may not have an opportunity to return to the polls if they left, deterred by safety concerns.”

The court extended voting hours in at least four of the affected precincts, according to NBC News, but in general the disruption to voting was described by the Inquirer as “minimal” with voting “only briefly interrupted.”

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes confirmed in a news conference Tuesday evening bomb threats directed at Navajo County, reported NBC News, an area with a “significant Indigenous population that is expected to be consequential in Tuesday’s election.” The “four non credible bomb threats” originated from email addresses with Russian domains (.ru).

“Federal and state authorities have indicated that these are not credible,” Fontes emphasized. “The motive appears to be to ensue chaos, not to impact any political outcome.”

“Trying to get us to rattle in our boots is the reason they’re doing this,” he added.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported the FBI was “investigating bomb threats attributable to Russia” in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and emphasized that these threats had been determined to be “non-credible.”

“These are hoax bomb threats. There are no bombs,” Maddow emphasized before reporting on voting hours were being extended in some of these precincts, and at least one of the threats had targeted a facility where ballots were being counted.

The latest round of bombs threats, she continued, were not necessarily known to be connected to Russia at this time, but there did seem to be additional states affected that had not yet been publicly announced.

“Let me just reiterate and underscore and repeat: there aren’t bombs,” she concluded. “There is no, there’s no real threat. The threat that happens here is the calling in the bomb threat where there isn’t a bomb in place, specifically to try to achieve chaos, to try to get these sites evacuated, and in some cases to disrupt voting patterns.”

The FBI posted a tweet linking to a statement about the bomb threats, noting that “many” of them “appear to originate from Russian email domains.”

“None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far,” the statement continued.

The FBI’s statement added that the agency “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,” and urged the public “to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity to state or local law enforcement, or submit tips to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or online at tips.fbi.gov.”

A senior FBI official confirmed to NBC News that the agency was investigating the bomb threats.

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.