WASHINGTON — A series of bomb threats across multiple battleground states and baseless claims of wrongdoing by former President Donald Trump disrupted an otherwise smooth Election Day that capped a tumultuous presidential campaign.
The bomb threats in parts of Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania on Tuesday turned out to be hoaxes, but they forced some polling places to evacuate and extend hours, and delayed the counting of some ballots.
The threats were reported throughout the day at polling locations in three metro Atlanta counties, all with large numbers of Democratic voters, and into the evening at Pennsylvania polling places and election offices where ballots were being counted. Bomb threats also were reported in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to state election officials.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in an evening news conference that the hoaxes posed no danger to the public — or to the election.
''Every legal, eligible vote will be counted and counted accurately, and the will of the people in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be respected," said Shapiro, a Democrat.
Neither Shapiro nor Pennsylvania State Police gave details about who might be behind the hoaxes.
In Georgia's Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, 32 of 177 polling places received bomb threats and five were briefly evacuated. The polling locations were able to reopen after the threats.
''That just shows you the resilience of our system and our people. We're battle-tested,'' said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican.