Georgia’s secretary of state alleged Tuesday that Russia was behind dozens of hoax bomb threats that were called into voting precincts in the greater Atlanta area on Election Day.
While the threats were determined to be a farce, they did force officials to briefly suspend operations at voting precincts in majority-Black communities, including Atlanta itself, that historically favor Democrats.
“They’re up to mischief, it seems, and they don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “Anything that can get us to fight amongst ourselves—they can count that as a victory.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Raffensperger, a Republican who famously clashed with Donald Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election over election fraud, said impacted voting sites had their hours extended. The issue is particularly noteworthy because Georgia, which Joe Biden won by 12,670 votes four years ago, is again expected to be one of the tightest races of the 2024 election.
Two of the impacted sites were in Union City, which has a population that is nearly 90 percent Black. Officials in Fulton County, home to Atlanta, announced that it received 32 bomb votes in its county alone.
Another two precincts in neighboring Gwinnett County, which has an equally diverse population, were evacuated for about an hour while bomb threats were investigated, local officials said. In DeKalb County, a deep-blue area east of Atlanta, officials said they received bomb threats at seven voting locations within an hour.
Evette Reyes, a poll watcher in Georgia, told CNN that “three voters were mid-vote” when a threat was called in to one voting site and that approximately 25 others were in line.
The FBI acknowledged that Russia was behind a slew of bomb threats that reports suggested also impacted voting sites in Pennsylvania. It released a statement on the matter but did not divulge many details on the reasoning behind the threats or how Russia was determined to be the culprit.
“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’s statement said.
A third swing state, Arizona, also reported receiving a hoax bomb threat. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said several polling locations in Navajo County, which is home to many Native Americans, were also threatened.
“We also have reason to believe, although I won’t get into specifics, that this comes from one of our foreign enemies, namely Russia,” said Fontes.
The Daily Beast Podcast episodes are released every Thursday. Like and download on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app. And click here for email updates as each new episode drops.
