Russia behind bomb threats against Georgia precincts, officials say

(NewsNation) — A series of non-credible bomb threats targeting Georgia polling sites “were of Russian origin,” Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger said.

Five non-credible threats temporarily evacuated two Fulton County, Georgia, precincts for about 30 minutes each,” Fulton County Election Director Nadine Williams said at a morning news conference.

“Thankfully, these locations are now operational again and all polling sites are secure with an active security presence,” she said.

Authorities including Georgia state officials and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are investigating the claims and say it’s safe for voting to continue. ​​ The FBI acknowledged the threats and said in a statement that none of them are credible so far.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Raffensperger criticized Russia’s alleged attempts to interfere with the election.

“We identified the source and it was from Russia … ” Raffensperger said during a separate morning news conference, which the FBI later confirmed. “They’re up to mischief it seems and they don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.”

“They think they can get us to fight among ourselves and they count that as a victory,” he continued. “So that tells you a little bit about the Russians. They’re not our friends. Anyone who thinks they are hasn’t been reading the newspapers.”

NewsNation has reached out to the South Fulton Police Department in Georgia for additional comments.

U.S. adversaries are intensifying disinformation efforts and promoting false claims about voter fraud, intelligence officials warned Monday.  

Safety measures are in place. Around the nation, about 60 national guardsmen from six states have been activated for election support, Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said.

Roughly 600 guardsmen from 17 states are also on standby.  

The lines were moving quickly Tuesday morning in Georgia, with check-in times under one minute in some locations.

Voters cast more than 29,500 ballots across Fulton County’s 177 polling sites as of 9:40 a.m. ET, Williams said.