New Jersey Polling Centers Across Seven Counties Forced To Close Due to Multiple Bomb Threats

Bomb threats disrupted voting across New Jersey on Election Day, forcing multiple polling locations to close or relocate as voters headed to the polls.Law enforcement secured polling sites across seven New Jersey counties after emailed threats, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement to News12 New Jersey. Among the counties that we forced to close polls were Bergen, Essex, Ocean, and Passaic.In Paterson, Mayor Andre Sayegh said two school-based polling locations were forced to shut down after receiving threats. Newark Public Safety officials confirmed they’re reviewing phishing emails containing false bomb threats, including an unfounded threat on Gotthard Street. In Hackensack, police responded to an emailed safety threat at a high school polling site just before 6 a.m., conducting a K9 sweep that allowed the location to reopen by 7:33 a.m.Mr. Platkin said that some of the locations were open shortly after it was determined that there was no immediate threat while voters at other locations were directed to an alternate polling location.“Voters should continue to have confidence that they can cast their ballot without fear of intimidation, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure a free, fair, and secure election,” he said.“Make no mistake: We will not tolerate any attempts to interfere with our elections, and we will swiftly hold accountable anyone who seeks to interfere with the safety or security of our electoral process.”Recent polling suggests a dizzying array of possible outcomes in the race between Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli, ranging from a dead heat to an eight-point lead for Ms. Sherrill.An Emerson College poll released Thursday in conjunction with WPIX 11 and the Hill. shows Ms. Sherrill clinging to a razor-thin edge of 49 percent over Mr. Ciattarelli who is at 48 percent among likely voters — well within the margin of error.Ciattarelli is making his third bid for governor in a decade, following a 2017 primary loss and a narrow three-point defeat to Governor Phil Murphy in 2021. With New Jersey swinging 10 points right between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, Republicans see an opening in a race that once seemed out of reach.Recent polling gives Sherrill only a single-digit lead. The latest Rutgers University survey shows her up by five points—a stark contrast to 2017, when Democrats captured the governor’s mansion by nearly 15 points during President Trump’s first term.While making his final election day push, Democratic candidate for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani addressed the reports of bomb threats, placing the blame squarely on the rhetoric of President Trump, while speaking with reporters.“I think that it is an illustration of the attacks we’re seeing in our democracy,” he said.“Sometimes they’re blatant and explicit in the manner of these bomb threats, and we have to understand this as part of the general approach the Trump administration has taken to trying to intimidate voters with baseless allegations of voter fraud as a means of trying to repress the voice of Americans across this country.”

New Jersey Polling Centers Across Seven Counties Forced To Close Due to Multiple Bomb Threats

New Jersey Polling Centers Across Seven Counties Forced To Close Due to Multiple Bomb Threats

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