The Georgia election bomb threat came from Russia: FBI, Brad Raffensperger

(This story has been updated with additional information.)

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed Tuesday that there had been a bomb threat against a polling station, but said it was of Russian origin and not credible. Raffensperger later clarified in a subsequent press conference that the threat affected between five and seven counties in several Georgia counties.

“In the interest of public safety, always check,” Raffensperger said.

“They seem to be up to mischief,” he added of the Russians. “They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election.”

Raffensperger noted that the federal government was involved in investigating the threat, but declined to elaborate on which law enforcement agencies responded or how he knew the threat was coming from Russia. He said the threat was eliminated Tuesday morning and law enforcement was under control.

The FBI said Tuesday that there had been bomb threats against polling places in several states and that many of those threats “appear to have originated from Russian email domains.”

So far, none of the threats have been classified as credible, the authority said.

“We will continue to work closely with our state and local law enforcement partners to respond to any threats to our elections and protect our communities while Americans exercise their right to vote,” the FBI said in a statement. “As always, we urge the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to state or local law enforcement or submit tips to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.”

Georgia is one of the seven key battleground states – making it a target of foreign interference in the election – as it shapes the presidential contest between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Russians were blamed for further disasters in Georgia. For example, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a video circulating on social media falsely showed a Haitian immigrant claiming to have voted multiple times in Georgia, blaming Russians have.

Raffensperger's office called the video “targeted disinformation” and said it was likely produced by “Russian troll farms.”

Russians were also blamed for a so-called denial of service attack on his office's website on October 14. But Raffensperger said the office added a question asking whether every visitor to the site was human, and that curbed the attack.

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The Georgia election bomb threat came from Russia: FBI, Brad Raffensperger

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