Several dozen polling stations were the target of false bomb threats during election day on Tuesday, November 5 in the United States, amid great confusion about the origin of these threats, all of which were unfounded. Several “swing states”, that is, states whose results are decisive in deciding between the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and the former Republican president Donald Trump, have received threats according to which there is a risk of devices exploding in certain polling stations.
In Georgia, 32 of them were targeted in Fulton County, while 60 alerts may have been identified in Gwinnett County. Other locations were also subject to alerts, including Dekalb County. In addition to Georgia, similar threats have been identified in Arizona, including the highly populated and strategic Maricopa County, as well as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. These alerts very briefly interrupted voting operations in several of these offices. In Pennsylvania, some have expanded their openings beyond scheduled hours to make up for lost time.
In the evening, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger pointed the finger directly at the Russian state. “We have heard about threats of Russian origin. We don’t think they are serious, but we should always check them. We have identified the source and it is in Russia. explained to reporters. They are doing us a bad job. They don’t want us to have peaceful, fair and equitable elections and they think they can make us fight among ourselves. The Russians are not our friends. »
In a press release, the FBI mentioned “Bomb threats targeted several polling locations in several states, many of which appear to come from Russian email domains. None of these threats have been considered credible to date. » At the same time, the federal agency reported the distribution of two fake videos – whose origin is not specified – impersonating the FBI, and one of which encouraged voters to vote remotely due to security risks.
Evidence too vague
If false bomb threats are a popular modus operandi in Russia, particularly in Ukraine, it is too early to know whether the wave that hit the United States was actually the work of Russian state services. So far, authorities have only mentioned the domain name, using the extension, as evidence. ru, from the address used to distribute these threats.
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