Maryland, California election offices received bomb threats, officials say

Washington: Several Maryland boards of elections and an office in a county in California received bomb threats on Friday, state authorities said, adding everyone was safe and law enforcement authorities were conducting probes.

Election officials were counting mail-in ballots when the threats came in Maryland. State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis said the threats led to evacuation of some buildings. He called the threats "cowardly," adding local officials will resume counting on Saturday.

"Safety is a top concern - but we WILL resume canvassing tomorrow. Cowardly threats whether from abroad or not shall not deter us," DeMarinis said on social media platform X.

"The Baltimore County Police Department is aware and currently investigating the bomb threat received via email by the Baltimore County Board of Elections Office," police posted on X, later adding that a probe found that threat unfounded.

In California's Orange County, the registrar of voters received a bomb threat at an office in Santa Ana after which the office building was evacuated and bomb detection dogs were used to conduct a search. No explosives were located, officials said, adding normal operations will resume on Saturday.

The offices of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Maryland Governor Wes Moore said they were monitoring the situations and working with local officials.

Republican Donald Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday's presidential election. Counting continued in parts of the country in local, congressional and presidential races.

The FBI said that hoax bomb threats, many of which appeared to originate from Russian email domains, were directed on Tuesday at polling locations in five battleground states - Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania - as Election Day voting was under way. Russia denies interfering in US elections.

Ahead of the elections, officials had braced for attacks and threats arising from misinformation and conspiracy theories about the vote.