In the midst of what is expected to be the most closely contested presidential election in recent memory, voting officials are reporting disruptions from threat actors.
According to the FBI, law enforcement officials have received bomb threats aimed at polling places in “several states,” including Georgia and Michigan. The threats were traced back to an email account based in Russia.
“The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains,” the Bureau said.
“None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far.”
While the intent of the attacker was not given, both Georgia and Michigan are expected to be closely-contested states are likely to prove pivotal in deciding the outcome of the election.
So far, law enforcement said the disruptions were not unexpected and were well within the scope of what they had planned for.
“Since our statement on Friday, the IC has been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans,” CISA said in a statement on the matter.
“The IC expects these activities will intensify through Election Day and in the coming weeks, and that foreign influence narratives will focus on swing states.”
Both government and private-sector security professionals have been warning for months that the Kremlin would likely be looking to conduct attacks on U.S. election systems and polling places in hopes of sowing chaos and tipping the scales in favor of Putin’s preferred candidates.
CISA in its statement noted that this is not the first attempt by Russian actors to disrupt the election process. Groups linked to the Kremlin have also been reported to be behind a series of fake articles claiming proof of voter fraud, prompting some in the U.S. to believe the outcome of the election would be invalid.
China and Iran have also been named as possible state actors that could seek to influence the outcome of election day.
Glitches also cause headaches
If the security threats were not enough of a headache for voters. There are also multiple reports of computer voting system errors that are causing long waits at voting booths.
According to CNN, polling places in Pennsylvania and Arizona were both dealing with software-related issues that had caused backups. In both cases officials were addressing the issue and remained confident voters would be able to cast their ballots.
