- At least 12 polling stations in Georgia will stay open later after bomb threats disrupted voting.
- The non-credible threats are linked to Russia, the FBI said.
- Georgia is one of seven swing states that will decide the outcome of the election.
Twelve voting stations in the metropolitan Atlanta area will stay open later after non-credible bomb threats momentarily disrupted voting, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said. The bomb threats were emailed to precincts in Fulton and Gwinnett counties and seem to be linked to Russia, according to law enforcement.
Raffensperger said that a total of 15 precincts are staying open later, 12 because of the unfounded bomb threats.
Polls were scheduled to close at 7:00 p.m. in Georgia, one of seven swing states that will be critical in determining who wins the White House.
At least five polling stations in Fulton County — the most heavily-populated county in the state that includes most of Atlanta — are staying open later after a brief evacuation.
A judge ruled on Tuesday that two locations in Gwinnett County will keep their doors open until 7:58 p.m. In Cobb County, two polling stations will be open for an additional 20 minutes.
Five locations in DeKalb County that were temporarily evacuated will be able to stay open to accommodate voters who were in line by 7:00 p.m., according to Atlanta News First. A church, two libraries, a community center, and senior center are among the impacted polling sites in the county.
Raffensperger slammed the Russians behind the false threats, saying “their motive is to destabilize America.”
Georgia is once again one of the most fiercely contested states on the presidential battleground map.
In 2020, President Joe Biden narrowly won the state over Trump, a major triumph for Democrats. For weeks after the election, Trump pressured both Raffensperger and GOP Gov. Brian Kemp to help him overturn the presidential results — citing unsubstantiated voter fraud — but both officials rejected his entreaties.
This year, Georgia was once again at the top of mind for Trump and Republicans, who have seen their grip on the state loosen considerably in recent years.
Democratic candidates must perform strongly in the Atlanta area’s Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties to win statewide, as rural strength in the rest of the state overwhelmingly favors the GOP. Trump, who campaigned heavily in rural and exurban areas of Georgia, also made an effort to court voters in metropolitan Atlanta.
