Bomb threats were called in to polling places in multiple states; some counties extended hours

By Benjamin Swasey,

Camila Domonoske, Ximena Bustillo

Published November 5, 2024 at 6:37 PM EST

An election staffer works at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center on Tuesday in Atlanta, Ga.

This story originally appeared as part of NPR's live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network head to our live updates page.

Voting hours were extended at multiple locations in Georgia's Fulton County and DeKalb County after hoax bomb threats that officials tied to Russian sources.

As NPR member station WABE reports, Fulton County officials said that 32 bomb threats via phone and email targeted polling locations in the county, while DeKalb police said they checked six polling locations for bombs. The polling locations were all cleared and no bombs were found. Voting re-opened and hours were extended in both counties.

Georgia is a crucial swing state in this election. Biden won it narrowly in in 2020, and both the Trump and Harris campaigns have poured resources into ads and rallies in the state.

Fulton and DeKalb are both in the Atlanta area — a crucial source of votes for Democrats, in particular. But although the region leans Democratic, the sheer population of the metro area makes it a significant source of votes for Trump as well.

Non-credible bomb threats have also been reported in Pennsylvania. Officials say that "roughly a dozen" Pennsylvania counties received threats, not all of which disrupted voting.

Similar threats have been called into Arizona counties, targeting four polling locations on Navajo County on the lands of Navajo Nation and the Hopi tribe, according to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. Fontes said the threats were unsubstantiated and linked to foreign actors. Another threat was also called in near the Maricopa County Tabulations and Election Center in Phoenix.

Pennsylvania and Arizona are also key swing states.

The FBI says that many of the bomb threats "appear to originate from Russian email domains." Officials have warned that foreign actors are attempting to sow chaos and undermine confidence in the legitimacy of U.S. elections.

While bomb threats are out of the ordinary, court-ordered poll extensions happen in certain places every election.

As NPR's Hansi Lo Wang has reported, polls in Pennsylvania's Cambria County have been extended to 10 p.m. ET after issues cropped up scanning ballots, while some polling places in Luzerne County had hours extended to 9:30 p.m. after they opened late.