DEEP DIVE — In at least five battleground states Tuesday, polling places were targeted by bomb threats, “many of which appear to originate from Russian e-mail domains,” according to the FBI. While the bureau found no evidence of actual bombs, there were dozens of threats, many of which led to evacuations and delays or disruptions in the voting. Taken together, the hoaxes represented a stunning moment for a U.S. election: bomb threats traced to another country, aimed at disrupting the American electoral process.
“They’re up to mischief, it seems,” said Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, who echoed the FBI statement and blamed Russia for the bomb threats. A senior official in Raffensperger’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the Georgia threats were sent from email addresses that had been used by Russians trying to interfere in past U.S. elections.
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