Election Day Bomb Threats: Swing States Face Threats Blamed On Russia—Here’s What We Know

Topline

Voting in multiple battleground states was disrupted on Tuesday as numerous polling places received death threats, many of which the FBI said it determined had ties to Russia, prolonging polling place hours and raising the specter of election interference.

Key Facts

Polling places in states including Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin have been targeted by bomb threats, law enforcement has confirmed, which led to evacuations and voting getting paused—though it’s not clear if they’re all linked.

Courts have allowed many affected polling places to extend their voting hours because of the disruptions, which means it will take longer for full results to be reported in battleground states.

Many targeted polling places were in areas that favor Democratic candidates, including Philadelphia and predominantly Black areas around Atlanta.

None of the threats have been deemed to be credible and officials said there does not appear to be any threat to the broader public, and the FBI noted earlier on Tuesday that many of the threats received by that point “appear[ed] to originate from Russian email addresses.”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger also confirmed bomb threats in that state were linked to Russia, noting at a press conference that they came through the internet and were in Cyrillic letters—with Raffensperger quipping that means “you know it came from Russia, so that helped us save some time on that one.”

It’s unclear if all of the threats originated from Russia or if the threats were jointly coordinated: In Pennsylvania, York County officials said a threat there “appeared similar” to bomb threats in other states, but The Philadelphia Inquirer notes a spate of bomb threats in the state so far had not been linked to the Georgia threats.

What We Don’t Know

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said Tuesday that the federal government is still investigating the bomb threats and the senders’ identity, the Associated Press reports. While the email domains the threats were sent from are from Russia, it’s also unclear if the senders themselves are Russian, Easterly said.

Did The Bomb Threats Affect Voter Turnout?

While the full election results and turnout numbers remain to be seen, Raffensperger said Tuesday he did not believe the threats impacted turnout in Georgia—which has already seen record turnout—or disrupt how the election was run. “That just shows you the resilience of our system and our people,” Raffensperger said, as quoted by ABC News.

Tangent

In addition to the bomb threats linked to Russia, police in Philadelphia also detained a man who made a bomb threat in person at a polling place, the Inquirer reports, though law enforcement do not believe he had a bomb or a plan for violence at the polling location.

Contra

Other than the non-credible bomb threats, election officials broadly reported that Tuesday’s election ran smoothly without major issues, CNN notes.

Key Background

The bomb threats come amid increased fears that there will be political violence on and after Election Day, as former President Donald Trump has used violent rhetoric on the campaign trail and threats against election workers have risen since the 2020 election. The ties to Russia are also in line with other apparent efforts by the foreign power to meddle in the presidential election, as Russian firms have been linked to viral disinformation about election fraud. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have repeatedly warned about Russian election interference efforts, releasing a statement on Nov. 1 that tied Russia to false videos spreading online and said it was part of “Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans.” Russian interference in the presidential election has become a major issue since the 2016 election, when, special counsel Robert Mueller wrote, “the Russian government believed it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome.”

Tangent

Trump has drawn scrutiny over his views on Russia for years. Mueller’s report found Trump’s 2016 campaign expected to benefit from Russian interference, and some campaign officials had contacts with Russians, but did not establish any illegal coordination by the campaign (which Trump has long denied). Russia may benefit if Trump wins the presidential election, as Vice President Kamala Harris has vowed support for Ukraine in its war against the country and spoken out against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has criticized the Biden administration sending aid to Ukraine and claimed he would end the ongoing war if he won the presidency—and while he hasn’t detailed plans to do so, Trump has suggested he would negotiate with both sides, rather than fight on behalf of Ukraine. The ex-president has long taken a notably more favorable stance toward Putin and Russia than other Western leaders, which has reportedly continued since he left office, with a new book by journalist Bob Woodward reporting Trump has spoken with Putin as many as seven times since he left the White House.

Surprising Fact

Key Trump ally Elon Musk also has notable ties to Russia, as the Wall Street Journal first reported the billionaire is in “regular contact” with Putin and other high-ranking Russian officials. The Tesla CEO has numerous government contracts and could get a role in a second Trump administration, as the ex-president has floated making Musk the “secretary of cost-cutting.” It’s unclear what Musk has discussed with Putin, the Journal notes, but notes the conversations have been ongoing since at least late 2022 and the Russian leader at one point asked Musk not to activate his Starlink satellites over Taiwan at the request of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Musk has denied the Journal’s reporting, saying on X after the piece came out, “Welp, the Swamp’s ‘Trump is Hitler’ didn’t work. Might as well give ‘Elon is a Russian agent’ a whirl.”

Further Reading