The FBI is investigating bomb threats at polling places in Georgia

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – The FBI and Georgia election officials are investigating a series of bomb threats that caused some polling places to temporarily close on Election Day.

The threats were reported throughout the day at polling places in three metro Atlanta areas, all of which had large numbers of Democratic voters, and into the evening at polling places and election offices in Pennsylvania, where ballots were being counted.

Bomb threats were also reported in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to state election officials.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Georgia would “not be intimidated” by threats to the voting process.

“This just shows the resilience of our system and our people. We are battle tested,” Raffensperger said.

In Fulton County, 32 of 177 polling places received bomb threats and five were briefly evacuated. The polling stations were able to reopen after the threats.

Fulton County officials say an officer was stationed at each polling location for voter safety.

“We made big plans for the bomb threat and we did it well,” a Fulton County police official said at an election update Tuesday.

A voter enters the polling station at Lucky Shoals Park Recreation Center in Norcross, Georgia on November 5, 2024. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

In DeKalb County, six polling locations received bomb threats, including the Reid Coffer Library on LaVista Road in Tucker.

“I walked around the Kroger to the main entrance and tried to turn left and there were a lot of police and people saying, 'Don't turn in. You have to come back later,'” said voter Lelia Cryor.

Fortunately, none of the threats were deemed credible. The FBI said many fake bomb threats in several states appeared to come from Russian email domains, although federal cybersecurity officials warned that the perpetrators were not necessarily Russian.

Raffensperger will provide another update on the election at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Georgia Capitol.