Americans navigated a fraught voting landscape on Election Day as a largely smooth voting process early in the day was buffeted by bomb threats, widespread disinformation and unabated anxiety over the election outcome and aftermath. A vast majority of Americans were able to cast their votes unimpeded. But threats of violence -- largely made through dozens of bomb threats, many in Democratic strongholds -- proved a constant reminder of what risks becoming an edgy new normal for voting in America. Among the areas affected were DeKalb and Fulton, two key Democratic counties in Georgia with large populations of Black voters. Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, saw a total of 32 bomb threats alone (judges later ordered the Fulton and DeKalb sites to extend voting hours). The secretary of state in Georgia said the threats made early in the morning had come from Russia. Six other states -- Maine, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio -- also reported receiving bomb threats. Election officials described the election process as generally smooth, safe and secure; long lines were present but not widespread, and most glitches caused by machines or human error were swiftly addressed. In Cambria County, Pennsylvania, a rural red county east of Pittsburgh, machines were unable to scan voters' ballots in the morning. The issue was eventually resolved, and a court ordered polling locations throughout the county to remain open two extra hours, until 10 p.m. In Milwaukee, election officials sought to head off a potential source of disinformation after discovering that 13 tabulators had the doors covering their power switches and data ports unlocked. Officials said they would have to retabulate 31,000 votes. Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, described it as "an unacceptable example of incompetent election administration" in a critical state, but city officials said it was relatively minor. "The greatest harm you could have done would be to reset the machine," said Jeff Fleming, a city spokesperson, explaining that the additional step could add an hour or 90 minutes to the night's count. There was also a level of hypervigilance that led to accusations of voter intimidation that did not pan out. For instance, a report that conservative activists had "intimidated" voters outside a polling station in Lee County, North Carolina, amounted to an overheard, harsh comment directed at a Latino voting rights group at the same polling station.
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