The county’s law department is also in the process of seeking emergency orders to extend voting times at those locations.
DeKalb County, Georgia’s Office of Voter Registration and Elections announced that it has received bomb threats at seven locations on election day, including five voting precincts across the county.
Those precincts are New Bethel AME Church, 8350 Rockbridge Rd., Lithonia; New Life Community Center, 3592 Flat Shoals Rd., Decatur; North DeKalb Senior Center, 3393 Malone Dr., Chamblee; Reid H. Cofer Library, 5234 Lavista Rd., Tucker; and Wesley Chapel Library, 2861 Wesley Chapel Rd., Decatur.
Bomb threats were also posted at Salem Panola Library, 5137 Salem Rd., Lithonia, and Stonecrest—but the elections office points out that that is not an active polling location.
DeKalb County Police Department is conducting bomb sweeps at those locations, and once the locations have been cleared, voters will be able to re-enter and cast their ballots.
The county’s law department is also in the process of seeking emergency orders to extend voting times at those locations.
“Every asset that we have will be deployed to ensure that every citizen who wants to vote will be given that opportunity and every vote cast will be counted,” DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said in a press release.
“Rest assured that we are working quickly to ensure every voter will have an opportunity to cast their ballot despite these bomb threats,” said DeKalb VRE Executive Director Keisha Smith. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are suspending voting at these polling locations until we have clearance from DeKalb Police to reopen the facilities.”
This announcement follows reports of other bomb threats targeting a polling location in Fulton County, Georgia. Those threats, which caused the closure of several polling places in the county, were addressed by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who said they were traced back to Russia and were not credible.
We’ve heard some threats that were of Russian origin,” Raffensperger said at a news conference on Election Day. “In the interest of public safety, we always check that out, and we’ll just continue to be very responsible when we hear about stuff like that.”
The Superior Court of Fulton County would go on to allow an extention of voting hours at the five polling locations that required evacuation.
The polling location at Etris Darnell Community Center remained open until 7:45 p.m, as was Northwood Elementary School. Southwest Arts Center remained open until 7:43 p.m.
The polling location at C.H. Gullatt Elementary School was allowed to stay open until 7:15 p.m. and Lake Forest Elementary School stayed open until 7:10 p.m.”
Jack Phillips contributed to this report.