FBI blames Russia for bomb threats at Ga. polling sites

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AUGUSTA, Ga. - The average wait time is two minutes this Election Day at Georgia polling locations, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Gabriel Sterling with Raffensperger’s office said the check-in time was averaging 49 seconds.

Georgia is one of a handful of battleground states that will decide whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump becomes the nation’s 47th president. All 14 of Georgia’s congressional races are on the ballot, as are three statewide referendums.

Raffensperger has offered a couple of updates on how the election is going in the hotly contested swing state.

As of 2:30 p.m., more than 700,000 Georgians have voted so far today.

“People are having a great voting experience,” Raffensperger said.

Raffensperger expects most results from Georgia will be tallied “by the end of the night.”

More than 1 million Georgians are expected to vote today, after a record-breaking early voting period that saw more than 4 million Georgians casting their ballots.

Election Day: What you need to know as you head to the polls

Election Day is finally here. This is the last chance to vote in the presidential race and local races in your county on Tuesday.

Two polling locations in Fulton County were temporarily evacuated Tuesday morning after they received false bomb threats.

The threats, which were deemed to be non-credible, targeted five polls in total, according to Fulton County Director of Registration and Elections Nadine Williams. The Etris-Darnell Community Center and C.H. Gullatt Elementary School were evacuated for about 30 minutes but are open to voters again, she said.

The county is seeking a court order to extend the two polling locations’ hours past the statewide 7 p.m. deadline to compensate for the disruption, Williams said.

Later, a bomb threat led to the evacuation of a Gwinnett County site, but voting eventually resumed.

DeKalb County election officials said Tuesday evening that bomb threats were reported at several locations, including five active polling places:

New Bethel AME Church, 8350 Rockbridge Road, Lithonia
New Life Community Center, 3592 Flat Shoals Road, Decatur
North DeKalb Senior Center, 3393 Malone Drive, Chamblee
Reid H. Cofer Library, 5234 Lavista Road, Tucker
Wesley Chapel Library, 2861 Wesley Chapel Road, Decatur

Raffensperger said officials believe the bomb threats came from Russia, which authorities have already confirmed is meddling in the election process.

“They’re up to mischief, it seems. They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election, and if they can get us to fight among ourselves, they can count that as a victory,” Raffensperger said. “That tells you a little bit about the Russians. They’re not our friends. Anyone that thinks they are hasn’t been reading the newspapers.”

The FBI agreed that bomb threats to polling sites today are originating in Russia.

“The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, including Georgia, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains. None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far. Election integrity is among the FBI’s highest priorities. We 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. As always, we urge 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.”

Russia was already known to be interfering with the election through a wave of propaganda and misinformation, apparently meant to swing the vote in favor of Donald Trump and otherwise sow distrust in the electoral process.

On the subject of misinformation, the FBI is warning the public to be wary of two false videos circulating on social media with inaccurate election information.

The first is a fake news clip telling viewers that the FBI recommends Americans “vote remotely” because of a high terror threat at the polls. The second shows a fake FBI press release saying that five prisons in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona rigged inmate voting in cooperation with a political party.

“Election integrity is among our highest priorities, 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.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and all the other attorneys general across the country issued a statement condemning political violence.

“Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s election, we expect that Americans will respond peacefully and we condemn any acts of violence related to the results,” the statement reads. “A peaceful transfer of power is the highest testament to the rule of law, a tradition that stands at the heart of our nation’s stability.”