Although voting seemed to go smoothly overall across the U.S. for Election Day, bomb threats were reported in several states, including Maryland and Virginia, on Tuesday.
Students and staff were cleared from Easton High School around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday after a bomb threat was called into the school, according to Capt. John Bollinger, administrative commander for the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office. No injuries were reported, and the threat appeared isolated to Easton High. The school serves as a polling site during Maryland’s elections, but none were taking place in the area Tuesday.
A bomb threat temporarily halted flight operations Tuesday morning at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after officials received reports of a possible device on board a United Airlines flight arriving from Houston.
The plane, United Flight 512, landed safely around 11:30 a.m. and was directed to a remote area of the airport. All 89 passengers and six crew members were evacuated as law enforcement searched the aircraft, officials said.
Runway operations resumed about 12:50 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FBI Washington Field Office’s National Capital Response Squad responded to the threat and found no hazards.
But some of the threats were explicitly tied to elections.
In New Jersey, officials investigated emailed bomb threats targeting polling stations in seven counties, including Passaic, considered a key swing county. New Jersey had one of the most-watched gubernatorial races, where Democrat Mikie Sherrill edged out Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli after a contentious campaign.
State election officials said no credible threats were found. A judge granted a one-hour extension for voters to be able to cast ballots at some polling places.
Some polling locations in Manhattan received messages containing threats of a “terroristic nature,” CBS News reported. No disruptions to voting in New York were reported as a result of the threats, sources said.
Authorities and security experts said the threats underscored growing concerns about politically motivated violence during an already-tense election season.
“What we’re witnessing today, from the assassination of Charlie Kirk to the sniper attack on an ICE facility, to the bomb threats that forced evacuations on Election Day, are all symptoms of the same underlying disease,” said Eric O’Neill, a former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative and founder of The Georgetown Group, a Washington-based risk consultancy and competitive intelligence firm.
“We’ve allowed political anger to become a moral crusade. When people start to believe their opponents are evil rather than simply wrong, violence becomes easier to justify.”
Bomb threats disrupted voting during last year’s presidential election, mostly in battleground states. Bomb threat hoaxes also circulated in Springfield, Ohio, last year after Donald Trump during the campaign amplified false claims of Haitian immigrants there abducting and eating pets.
Schools have also been targets, with historically Black colleges and universities receiving threats in particular in the wake of conservative activist Kirk’s killing.
Brian Higgins, founder and CEO of New Jersey-based Group 77, a security assessment, planning, training and consulting firm, said Election Day bomb threats come amid a surge in toxic political rhetoric.
“You can find examples in statements by some who say they are ‘happy’ or ‘pleased’ that Charlie Kirk was murdered,” said Higgins, who is also an adjunct faculty member at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “The most disturbing is the open support for Kirk’s killing and, in extreme cases, the encouragement of more violence.”
He said addressing such hostility will take time.
“There is no easy answer, and that mindset cannot be changed quickly,” he said. “After a school shooting, there’s often a discussion asking, ‘How can this happen?’ But it doesn’t happen overnight. These are deep-seated beliefs and a hardened mindset.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Have a news tip? Contact Todd Karpovich at tkarpovich@baltsun.com or on X as @ToddKarpovich.