Moscow has described as “malicious slander” reviews that pretend bomb threats directed at polling areas in 4 battleground states in the US election – Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin – originated from Russian electronic mail domains and have been a part of an interference operation.
Not less than two 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 so far,” the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stated in a press release, noting that lots of the hoax bomb warnings “seem to originate from Russian electronic mail domains”.
An FBI official stated that Georgia acquired 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 areas in Fulton County, Georgia, being evacuated. Each areas re-opened after about half-hour, officers stated, and the county was searching 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 so far.
— FBI (@FBI) November 5, 2024
Bomb threats have been additionally despatched to 2 polling areas in Wisconsin’s state capital Madison, however didn’t disrupt voting, the pinnacle of the Wisconsin Elections Fee, Ann Jacobs stated.
A spokesperson for Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state, stated there had been reviews 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 straight 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 will get us to struggle amongst ourselves, they will rely that as a victory,” Raffensperger informed reporters.
The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC stated insinuations about Russian interference within the election have been “malicious slander”.
“We wish to emphasise that Russia has not interfered and doesn’t intrude within the inside affairs of different nations, together with the US. As President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly careworn, we respect the need of the American folks,” the embassy stated.
US intelligence officers have accused Russia of interfering in earlier US presidential elections, particularly by way of cyber-operations within the 2016 race which the present Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, gained in opposition to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The US later indicted 12 Russian navy 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 important incidents on this Election Day.
Cait Conley, of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company, informed reporters there had been little proof of great disruption to election infrastructure.
“At this level, we’re not at present monitoring any nationwide stage important incidents impacting safety of our election infrastructure,” stated Conley, whose company is chargeable for defending important American infrastructure, together with election infrastructure.
