The last election day in the USA is here

WASHINGTON (AP) — A mostly smooth one election day The entire country was marred by a series of bomb threats and unfounded claims of wrongdoing by former President Donald Trump in several battleground states on Tuesday.

The bomb threats in parts of Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania turned out to be hoaxes, but led to evacuations and extended hours for some polling places.

The Threats were reported throughout the day at polling places in three metro Atlanta counties, all of which had large numbers of Democratic voters, and into the evening at polling places and election offices where ballots were counted in Pennsylvania. Bomb threats were also reported at three polling locations in Navajo County, Arizona, according to the Secretary of State.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in an evening news conference that the hoaxes posed no threat to the public — or to the election. “Every legal, eligible vote will be counted and counted accurately, and the will of the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be respected,” said Shapiro, a Democrat.

Neither Shapiro nor the Pennsylvania State Police provided information about who might be behind the hoaxes or why Shapiro believed there was no danger to the public.

In Georgia's Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, 32 of 177 polling places received bomb threats and five were briefly evacuated. The polling stations were able to reopen after the threats.

“This just shows the resilience of our system and our people. We are battle-hardened,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

The FBI said Tuesday afternoon that many fake bomb threats in several states appeared to originate from Russian email domains.

The dramatic and disturbing end to Election Day came after a highly successful period of early voting in which at least half of all expected votes in the presidential election were cast. More than until Tuesday 84 million Americans had already voted.

Overall, the last day of voting on Tuesday was characterized by the same routine Hiccups and frustrations seen in other elections: a poll worker forgets to bring a key; Errors printing ballots; Ballot counting machines don't work.

The vast majority of issues are “largely expected, routine and planned events,” said Cait Conley, senior adviser to the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Although there was no evidence of widespread voting problems, Trump made unsubstantiated claims related to Philadelphia and Detroit and raised questions about voting operations in Milwaukee, the largest cities in three states that will be crucial in deciding the presidency.

Local officials quickly dismissed Trump's claims on his social media platform, saying there was no evidence of problems that could affect the accurate counting of votes.

The lack of significant problems did not stop Trump, the Republican nominee, or the Republican National Committee from making numerous claims of fraud or election interference during the early voting period Prelude to challenges after election day.

In Georgia, a federal judge last weekend dismissed as “frivolous” a last-minute push by Republicans to challenge the collection of mail-in ballots by election offices in Atlanta – after early voting ended. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker said the GOP's argument “does not stand up to even the most basic level of legal scrutiny and reading comprehension.”

Trump indicated on Tuesday that he would not challenge the election results – as long as they were fair.

“If it were a fair election, I would be the first to accept the results,” Trump said, although it was unclear what fits that definition.

As voting neared its conclusion on Election Day, the former president began making unfounded claims about voting, ballot counting and law enforcement.

He said on his social media platform that “there is talk of massive fraud in Philadelphia” and that prosecutions are underway. He did not provide further details and there was no immediate indication of what he was referring to. His spokesmen did not respond to requests for comment on what he meant.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner issued a statement dismissing Trump's claims as baseless.

“There is no factual basis within law enforcement to support this wild claim,” Krasner said. “If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild claims, we want them now. At the moment. We’re not holding our breath.”

Federal election security officials and Shapiro also said they had seen nothing to support Trump's claims. Officer Miguel Torres of the Philadelphia Police Department said he was unaware of a special law enforcement mobilization or “any incident” that would require one.

One of three election board members in Philadelphia, Seth Bluestein, a Republican, said on social media that Trump's comment was “another example of disinformation.” During an evening press conference, he stressed the security of the city's vote: “There is no evidence of massive fraud,” he said.

Detroit police were equally confused by another Trump post that said, “Philadelphia and Detroit! There are strong law enforcement!” Detroit police said there were no reported problems inside or outside of Huntington Place, the massive convention hall where election workers were supposed to count ballots.

Evening traffic outside the center was light and there were no protesters in sight. Barricades were erected outside the room and the escalators to and from the area were blocked. The police also reported no major problems in the city's more than 400 electoral districts.

In Milwaukee, election officials said they would recount more than 30,000 mail-in ballots “out of an abundance of caution” after discovering that the doors on the back of ballot scanners were not properly sealed. The effort, which drew the attention of Trump and the RNC, was expected to delay the count there.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson went with the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party to the central counting site in Milwaukee to observe the recount and said it didn't appear the city was prepared for the election. Less than two months before Election Day, the Milwaukee elections office had received praise from Republicans who monitor and have monitored elections in the state appeared confident that it was finished.

Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has urged voters not to fall for Trump's tactics to question elections. She spent Tuesday afternoon casting her own vote at a phone bank hosted by the Democratic National Committee, saying phone banking represented “the best of us.”

___

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to improve its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. Learn more about AP's Democracy Initiative Here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.