The FBI mentioned on November 5 that polling places in a number of U.S. states have been the goal of bomb threats, a lot of which seem to originate from Russian domains.
No less than two U.S. polling stations within the state of Georgia have been evacuated due to the threats, officers mentioned.
Each reopened after about half-hour and authorities are looking for a court docket order to increase voting hours past the statewide closing time of seven p.m. to make up for the time misplaced in the course of the evacuations.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger mentioned Russian interference was behind the bomb threats and that, after an investigation, they weren’t deemed credible by the FBI.
“They’re as much as mischief, it appears. They do not need us to have a clean, truthful, and correct election, and if they’ll get us to combat amongst ourselves, they’ll rely that as a victory,” Raffensperger informed reporters.
“I wish to be sure that everybody in Georgia understands this: Russia picked on the fallacious Georgia. They should decide on the opposite one, within the Black Sea,” Raffensperger added.
WATCH: Voters in Chicago’s Ukrainian neighborhood talked about their hopes and fears as they headed to the polls within the November 5 U.S. presidential election.
Georgia alone acquired greater than two dozen phony bomb threats on Election Day, an FBI official informed Reuters.
U.S. intelligence and safety officers earlier accused Russia and Iran of ramping up cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns to sow discord within the tense presidential election.
Russian-linked affect actors “are manufacturing movies and creating faux articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill worry in voters concerning the election course of, and counsel Individuals are utilizing violence in opposition to one another as a result of political preferences,” mentioned a assertion issued by the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the FBI, and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company on November 4.
“These efforts threat inciting violence, together with in opposition to election officers,” it added.
The FBI mentioned in a separate information launch on November 5 that it was made conscious of two cases of its identify and brand being misused in selling false narratives surrounding the election.
The primary is a fabricated information clip purporting to be a terrorist warning issued by the FBI. The information clip studies falsely that the FBI purportedly acknowledged that Individuals ought to “vote remotely” as a result of a excessive terror menace at polling stations, the assertion mentioned.
“This video isn’t genuine and doesn’t precisely symbolize the present menace posture or polling location security,” it mentioned.
The second occasion is a video containing a fabricated FBI press launch alleging that the administration of 5 prisons in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona rigged inmate voting and colluded with a political celebration.
“This video can be not genuine, and its contents are false,” the FBI mentioned.
The assertion did not say the place the fabricated materials got here from.
U.S. intelligence companies have warned for months of Russian government-backed efforts to affect the vote that pits former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, and his opponent, Democratic Celebration nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
Opinion polls forward of Election Day say the race is simply too near name, elevating tensions as voters head to the polls after an acrimonious marketing campaign.
Polls opened at 5 a.m. on November 5 in some jap states and can proceed throughout the nation, together with in Alaska and Hawaii, till the night hours in these far western U.S. states in a battle between Trump and Harris.
Highlighting an instance of the disinformation ways getting used, the U.S. companies mentioned within the November 4 assertion that Russian affect actors not too long ago posted and amplified an article falsely claiming that U.S. officers throughout swing states plan to orchestrate election fraud utilizing a spread of ways, reminiscent of poll stuffing and cyberattacks.
In addition they mentioned Russian affect actors manufactured and amplified a current video that falsely depicted an interview with a person claiming election fraud in Arizona, which concerned creating faux abroad ballots and altering voter rolls to favor Harris.
The Arizona secretary of state has already refuted the video’s declare as false.
Whereas “Russia is essentially the most lively menace,” the assertion mentioned Iran additionally stays a “important overseas affect menace” to the election.
“We have now assessed that Iran has carried out malicious cyberactivities to compromise former President Trump’s marketing campaign,” the intelligence companies mentioned.
“Iranian affect actors may search to create faux media content material meant to suppress voting or stoke violence, as they’ve executed in previous election cycles.”
The companies urged voters to “hunt down info from trusted, official sources, particularly state and native election officers” in gentle of the “continued affect efforts by overseas adversaries and the rising quantity of inauthentic content material on-line.”
Each Tehran and Moscow have denied taking part in a task in any disinformation campaigns in the course of the U.S. presidential election.
The result of the election might have an effect on Ukraine greater than some other overseas nation.
The candidates have staked out two very totally different positions on help for Ukraine, whose protection in opposition to invading Russian troops is closely depending on U.S. army, monetary, and diplomatic help.
Harris has mentioned she would proceed President Joe Biden’s coverage of aiding Ukraine, clearly expressing the need to see Russia defeated.
Trump has questioned U.S. help for Ukraine, saying Europe needs to be carrying the majority of the burden in backing Kyiv in opposition to the Russian invasion, and has left NATO’s future doubtful.