U.S. authorities have attributed several non-credible bomb threats in the country’s ongoing presidential election to Russia. The bomb threats disrupted voting in two polling centres in Atlanta Georgia.
The Georgian Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, told reporters Tuesday that the threats disrupted voting for about an hour, but that there was nothing serious about it.
“We’ve heard some threats that were of Russian origin. I don’t know how to describe that that’s viable, we don’t think they are, but in the interest of public safety, we always check that out, and we’ll just continue to be very responsible when we hear about stuff like that,” Raffensperger said.
“We identified the source, and it was from Russia,” he added.
“They’re up to mischief, it seems, and they don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election,” he added. “Anything that can get us to fight amongst ourselves, they can count that as a victory.”
The non-credible threats caused the temporary closure of the affected polling units, the Etris Community Center and Gullatt Elementary in Union City, just outside of Atlanta, according to Fulton County Police.
According to Nadine Williams, Fulton County registration and elections director, the county is seeking to extend voting hours due to the disturbance.
An FBI statement said it was aware of the threats but did not address their source.
“Election integrity and protecting our community is our highest priority, and the FBI is working closely with state and local law enforcement partners to respond to election threats and protect our communities as Americans exercise their right to vote,” the FBI said in a statement.
The statement said the bureau has no information to indicate the threat is credible.
Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday approved a petition to extend voting hours until 10 p.m. ET after a “malfunction” prevented voters in Cambria County from scanning their ballots.
Election officials urged residents of Pennsylvania to be patient as no voter will be turned away and all votes will be counted.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Country Solicitor Ron Repak said “The Cambria County Board of Election learned early this morning that a software malfunction in the County’s Electronic Voting System has prevented voters from scanning their ballots,”
“This should not discourage voters from voting at their precincts.
“All completed ballots will be accepted, secured, and counted by the Board of Elections. The County Board of Elections has express voting machine [sic] at precinct locations to continue to allow voting electronically, while still allowing hand ballots to be cast,” said Repak.
Trump and Harris are contesting in what is considered the tightest presidential election in the US.
Georgia and Pennsylvania are two of seven battleground states considered to be the deciding states in the election, alongside, Arizona, Nebraska, North Carolina, Nevada and Michigan.