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    • Wisconsin polling stations received threats of Russian origin, FBI says
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    Wisconsin polling stations received threats of Russian origin, FBI says

    Online Niel Posted on

    Wisconsin polling places on Tuesday received non-credible bomb threats that appear to be from Russian email domains, Caroline Clancy, public affairs officer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Milwaukee, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

    Along with Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona also received threats linked to Russian email domains on Election Day, according to the FBI. None of the threats were deemed credible, though voting slowed over two dozen polling places in Georgia while police were conducting precautionary bomb sweeps.

    “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 as always,” Clancy said.

    The FBI’s statement comes after Wisconsin election officials previously denied any threat to Wisconsin polling places.

    At around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, Wisconsin Board of Elections Administrator Meagan Wolfe told reporters, “We have no information that there are active or ongoing threats against any polling place in Wisconsin.”

    Although Clancy did not provide the location or details of the fake bomb threats in Wisconsin, the Madison Police Department said Tuesday that email threats were sent about the Madison Metropolitan School District. Officials determined the threats were not credible and did not say whether the threats were related to Russia.

    The school district was alerted to the threats and voting was not interrupted. Students did not have class on election day. Police said they would continue to make extra patrols of polling stations in schools.

    Police said they did not want news of discredited bomb threats to discourage voters from going to the polls on Election Day.

    Madison, Dane County officials report no major problems at the polls

    At the City-County Building in downtown Madison, Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl reported 85,656 votes cast in the liberal stronghold as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, including tens of thousands of ballots processed so far.

    City staff must reach 37 precincts to report turnout, Witzel-Behl said.

    She said she spoke on the phone with almost all of the precinct inspectors throughout the day and they reported no major problems.

    Asked about bomb threats to polling places across the country, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said he has not spoken to any law enforcement officials about the threats in Dane County.

    “There might be things I don’t know much about, but no polling places were affected,” McDonell said. “Nothing happened here.”

    Drake Bentley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and USA TODAY contributed to this report.

    (This story has been updated to add new information.)

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