Hours are extended for certain Georgia polling places after threats

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An election staffer works at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center on Tuesday in Atlanta, Ga. / AP

This story originally appeared as part of NPR's live coverage of the 2024 election. For more election coverage from the NPR Network head to our live updates page.

Voting hours have been extended by up to 45 minutes at five locations in Georgia's Fulton County, after hoax bomb threats that officials tied to Russian sources.

Bomb threats have also been reported in DeKalb County, as NPR member station WABE reports, and voting has been suspended at multiple locations while police sweep for bombs. Officials in DeKalb County are also seeking extensions to voting hours.

Georgia is a crucial swing state in this election. Biden won it narrowly in in 2020, and both the Trump and Harris campaigns have poured resources into ads and rallies in the state.

Fulton and DeKalb are both in the Atlanta area — a crucial source of votes for Democrats, in particular. But although the region leans Democratic, the sheer population of the metro area makes it a significant source of votes for Trump as well.

While bomb threats are out of the ordinary, these sorts of court-ordered poll extensions happen in certain places every election.

As NPR's Hansi Lo Wang has reported, polls in Pennsylvania's Cambria County have been extended to 10 p.m. ET after issues cropped up scanning ballots, while some polling places in Luzerne County had hours extended to 9:30 p.m. after they opened late.