Tens of millions of people are expected to cast their ballots on Election Day Tuesday and the process has gone off relatively smoothly with some setbacks as voters decide a winner in the 2024 presidential election.
FBI Investigates Bomb Threats: Voters in some states were met with long lines in what many election polls show is a close matchup between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
Bomb threats at some polling locations delayed the voting process, with an investigation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) linking the treats to 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 FBI said in a statement, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. “None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far.”
The reported ties to Russia come as the United States has been on high alert for attempts by several countries to try and impact or influence the 2024 presidential election.
Russia has previously been accused of trying to influence the outcomes of the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
Man Arrested at U.S. Capitol: A Michigan man was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police Tuesday at the Capitol Visitor Center.
The arrest came after the man, who smelled like fuel, was stopped during the screening process, as reported by WOODTV. The report said the man was found with a torch, flare gun and bottles with fuel residue inside.
“Our officers just arrested a man who was stopped during our screening process at the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC),” Capitol Police shared on social media.
After the 28-year-old man from Jackson was arrested, the CVC closed for tours the rest of Tuesday.
Congress is not in session Tuesday, as reported by The Hill. Select members of the House will meet at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday for a brief pro forma session.
Voting Machine Problems: Voters in Cambria County, Pennsylvania will have an extra two hours to vote Tuesday due to a voting machine problem on Election Day, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
After being a Democratic stronghold and voting for Barack Obama in the 2008 election, the county of 133,000 people is now a strong Republican-backed territory in the key swing state. Mitt Romney won the county in the 2012 election with 58% of the vote. Trump took 67% of the vote in the county in 2016 and 68% in 2020.
High Alert, Minimal Problems: While the problems above have all occurred on Election Day, they come with the country on heightened alert and numerous problems expected.
The Washington Post reported that Election Day is “largely running smoothly” with only several small setbacks impacting locations Tuesday.
One of the most common themes, which could be a sign of how important the 2024 election is and how close the results could be, is high voter turnout and long lines. Before polls opened Tuesday, over 80 million votes had already been cast by mail-in ballots or early in-person voting, equaling over half the total number of votes cast in the 2020 election.
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