Hoax bomb threats disrupt polling sites in key states

AFP

The FBI is investigating a series of hoax bomb threats aimed at polling locations in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, and Wisconsin during Election Day voting.

The threats, which appear to have originated from Russian email domains, disrupted voting at several sites, including brief evacuations in Georgia.

Its believed there were 32 hoax calls in Georgia alone, none of which were deemed credible, and voting resumed at affected locations.

Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger blamed Russian interference, while Russian officials denied any involvement, calling the allegations "malicious slander."

In Arizona, four polling sites in Navajo County received fake bomb threats, and Wisconsin and Michigan also reported similar threats, though they did not disrupt voting.

The fake bomb threats are part of a broader pattern of alleged Russian efforts to interfere in the 2024 election.

On November 1, U.S. intelligence officials revealed that Russian operatives had fabricated a video to falsely accuse Haitians of illegal voting in Georgia, as well as another video falsely implicating an individual linked to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign in a bribery scandal.

The FBI continues to investigate the threats as the U.S. presidential election remains tightly contested.

More from International

  • UN Hormuz vote now expected next week

    The UN Security Council is now expected to vote next week on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, diplomats said on Friday, but veto-wielding China has made clear its opposition to authorising any use of force.

  • Bahrain says 4 injured after drone interception

    Bahrain said four citizens were injured and a number of homes damaged from falling debris from drone interceptions early Saturday.

  • Eight dead after earthquake strikes Afghanistan

    Eight people were killed and one child was injured on Friday when a house collapsed in Kabul following an earthquake in Afghanistan, the National Disaster Management Authority said.

  • Iran downs US fighter jet, raising stakes in war

    Iran shot down a US warplane on Friday in the first such known incident of the five-week war, officials from both nations said, with one of the crew members rescued after ejecting and the other still missing, according to a US source.

  • Zelenskyy accuses Russia of 'Easter escalation'

    A large-scale daytime Russian strike killed at least two people in Ukraine on Friday, officials said, in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced as an "Easter escalation", as Moscow shifts tactics to avoid Ukrainian air defences.