Michigan, Wisconsin targeted by bomb threats on Election Day; swing states could decide race
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Bomb threats targeted vital Midwest swing states on Election Day.
A presidential campaign marked by upheaval and rancor headed for its Election Day finale on Tuesday, as Americans decided whether to send Donald Trump back to the White House or elevate Kamala Harris to the Oval Office.
Voters faced a stark choice between two candidates with drastically different temperaments and visions for the world's largest economy and dominant military power. More than 82 million people voted early. Those casting Election Day ballots mostly encountered a smooth process, with isolated reports of hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors.
Two of the most closely watched states in this election are Michigan and Wisconsin, swing states that were essential to Trump's victory in 2016 and President Joe Biden's win in 2020.
In Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, just over the Illinois border, voters casting their ballot at the village hall polling place were split pretty much down the middle.
Two Trump voters said the economy was their top issue and why they were voting for the former president.
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A Puerto Rican woman said she considered voting for Trump on the economy, but after the Puerto Rico "floating trash island" joke at his rally at Madison Square Garden, "I said I'm done." She said she is ready to see a woman in charge.
Other young women voting at village hall said their futures, the economy, women's rights and equality were all top-of-mind issues for them.
And the Trump voters who spoke to ABC7 all said they trust the voting process and will believe the outcome of the election.
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At New Buffalo City Hall in Michigan, a steady stream of voters came to cast their ballots in person; about 400 of them.
Michigan election officials said there's been strong turnout already, with 3.7 million votes now counted from absentee ballots and in-person early voting, so more than 46.,3% of active registered Michigan voters have already cast ballots outside of in-person voting Tuesday.
There have been plenty of divided first time voters in this vital swing state.
First time voter Victoria Candoiotti said she is voting for Donald Trump. She said the last four years have been the worst of her life.
Francisco Hernandez is voting in his first election for Kamala Harris, motivated specifically by the violence seen during the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot.
"It's been really hard raising kids in this Biden economy this Biden world this Kamala crap that we've been dealing with," Candiotti said. "I've made the most money I've ever made in my life between my husband and I and we are living like we're poor."
"Usually I don't vote but because what happened with Donald Trump and all that stuff I decided that I'm just going to do it because it might count," said Hernandez. "He feels like he's above everybody and I don't want to have to think that that's my president."
While generally voting has been smooth so far in both battleground states, federal law enforcement did confirm that Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia polling places have been targeted by bomb threats which the FBI said appear to originate from Russian email domains. They have all been deemed not credible.
"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 fight among ourselves. They can count that as a victory. So that tells you, tells you a little bit about the Russians. They're not our friends. Anyone that thinks they are hasn't been reading the newspapers," said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
During an off-camera briefing, Michigan Department of State press officer Angela Benander said, "We have had reports of some bomb threats at a few polling locations. They were all investigated and confirmed to be non-credible. As far as Russia ties, we have been notified that that is what they believe has happened, that they are [apparently coming] from Russia, they're swatting attacks, and that they are all non-credible."
She said Michigan State Police said have investigated and cleared the targeted polling places.
A city official in Madison, Wisconsin, told ABC News a bomb threat was made to an elementary school used as a polling place Tuesday morning, but it didn't impact voting and was "very obviously" from Russia.
"We do not have any information that there are active or ongoing threats against any polling places in Wisconsin," said Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe.
While these threats may cause inconvenience and concern, Lewis University political science professor Steve Nawara told the ABC7 I-Team that foreign interference, notably misinformation campaigns, have no real nexus to the election outcome.
"The question might come up, 'Why are foreign governments interfering in American elections?' And it really comes down to, you know, foreign adversaries have an incentive to exploit political divisions in America to undermine the projection of democracy abroad. And with that might come specific policy changes that are advantageous to those nations," Nawara said. "I want to be very clear that there's no evidence that anything is going on that will affect the integrity of the election itself in terms of voter registration lists, the ballots themselves, the counting of the ballots."
Michigan voters are deciding between Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in a tight U.S. Senate battleground contest that could sway the balance of federal power.
Slotkin had a clear head start, but as Republicans became more confident about Donald Trump's presidential prospects in Michigan, the contest drew more attention from funders who believed Rogers had a good chance of becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in the state in 30 years.
The race could determine whether Democrats continue to hold their slim majority in the Senate, where they are defending more seats than Republicans in this election.
Wisconsin voters will also get a chance in Tuesday's elections to shift the balance of power in the Legislature and decide whether to explicitly forbid foreign nationals from ever voting in the state.
Republicans seized control of both the Assembly and the Senate in 2010. The next year they redrew district boundaries to consolidate their power and have held the majority in both houses for the last 13 years.
The political landscape shifted dramatically last year, though, after liberal justices won control of the state Supreme Court and invalidated the Republican district maps. That move opened the door for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to redraw the lines, giving his party hope of making substantial gains in both chambers.
Some Democratic optimism stems from the local efforts in Operation Swing State, which has sent scores of volunteers to Wisconsin and Michigan to campaign for Harris.
"The outpouring of strength and support by Illinois Democrats in Wisconsin and Michigan and even Pennsylvania is going to make the difference," U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said.
Democrats are counting on their ground game to lead to victory.
"Well, we as Democrats believe on knocking on doors and talking to people personally, and we do that here in Illinois. And we have in this cycle done that in a lot of places, in Wisconsin and Michigan, and I think, as I said, that'll make the difference," Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle said.
The City of Milwaukee on Tuesday evening will have to re-tabulate approximately 30,000 absentee ballots after a human error at the city's central ballot processing location, likely delaying the city's final results by hours.
A door to several tabulators was not properly sealed, according to Jeff Fleming of the Milwaukee mayor's office.
"The people operating the machines along both walls - the 13 machines - are being reset to zero," Fleming said. "They will rerun all the ballots that they previously ran after it has been reset."
Milwaukee received a total of 106,000 absentee ballots, which are processed at the city's Baird Convention Center. (WISN has footage inside) The city cannot report the results of the absentee ballots until every ballot is counted, per Wisconsin law.
"We're guessing, you know, one hour, two hours, three hours, four. We just don't know at this stage," Fleming said about the delay.
Fleming said the issue was "human error" that he blamed on "senior election staff."
"We want to make sure everybody understands that our goal here in this room is to be absolutely accurate beyond any question, and to do that, we're going to rerun the balance," Fleming said.
The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report
