Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, says that some of his polling sites were targeted with bomb threats originating in Russia as part of the country’s foreign influence operation here in America. He assured voters that the threats are not credible, and that it is safe to vote. 

“We’ve heard some threats that were of Russian origin, so I don’t know how to describe if that’s viable — we don’t think they are — but in the interest of public safety, you always check that out,” the secretary of state said Tuesday morning. “We identified the source and it was from Russia. … They’re up to mischief it seems, and they don’t want us to have a smooth, fair, and accurate election, and they think they can get us to find amongst ourselves.”

“That tells you a little bit about the Russians — they are not our friends. Anyone that thinks they are hasn’t been reading the newspapers, Mr. Raffensperger said. 

He assured Georgia voters that their votes will be counted and reported accurately and quickly by the end of the day. Per state law, counties must report all mail and early vote results from the past few weeks within one hour of polls closing, which will likely be the majority of total votes cast this year. Mr. Raffensperger also predicted that all election day votes will be counted and reported by midnight. 

“By the end of the night, you’ll have all of the results,” he said. 

At his press conference Tuesday, he assured voters that the process is going smoothly, with the average wait time in line statewide being just two minutes. 

“People are having a great voting experience,” Mr. Raffensperger said. “People are in and out in ten minutes.”