Election security updates: FBI says election bomb threats appear to be from Russia

The head of elections in Fulton County — the largest in the critical battleground state of Georgia -- on Monday said they had a smooth start this morning with all locations opening on time and tens of thousands of voters casting their ballots, though two locations were briefly evacuated after a series of bomb threats.

Elections director Nadine Williams said the county received 5 "non-credible" bomb threats that lead to two voting locations being evacuated for approximately 30 minutes each. The county is working on going to court to extend the hours for those locations.

"All polling sites are secure with an active security presence," Williams assured.

"Outside of these brief interruptions, Election Day has been quiet, with minimal issues reported," she continued, "and we remain prepared to address any misinformation or additional disruption to ensure a smooth experience for all voters today."

Williams said that as of 9:40 this morning, 29,500 ballots have been cast in the county.

Regarding timing of the results, Williams said that the 417,000 votes from advance voting, as well as the mail ballots received through Monday, will be uploaded by 8 p.m. tonight.

As far as the rest of the locations, Williams said that barring no long lines tonight, those memory cards with today's votes should be back at the main center where they "are hoping before midnight we should see the rest of the results come up."

"As [memory cards] arrive, we will start uploading," Williams said.

-ABC News' Olivia Rubin

There are now 252 Guardsmen activated from 15 states, and another 87 on standby in three states plus Washington, D.C.

As of this morning, the National Guard Bureau is tracking multiple states and providing support to state agencies during the 2024 election cycle, a bureau official said. These are not associated with support to the upcoming presidential inauguration.

-ABC News’ Matthew Seyler

The FBI is aware of two fabricated news clips and press releases urging people not to vote and rigged inmate voting, according to a statement they released on Tuesday morning.

"The FBI was made aware of two instances of its name and insignia being misused in promoting false narratives surrounding the election," the FBI said in a statement. "The first is a fabricated newsclip purporting to be a terrorist warning issued by the FBI. The fabricated newsclip reports falsely that the FBI purportedly stated that Americans should 'vote remotely' due to a high terror threat at polling stations. This video is not authentic and does not accurately represent the current threat posture or polling location safety. Additionally, a fabricated video containing a fabricated FBI press release alleges that the management of five prisons in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona rigged inmate voting and colluded with a political party. This video is also not authentic, and its contents are false."

This is the second such warning the FBI has given in recent days.

-ABC News' Luke Barr

The Department of Justice has agreed to keep its federal monitors from entering Texas polling locations on Election Day – a victory for Attorney General Ken Paxton who sued the department earlier.

According to the agreement, election monitors from DOJ will remain outside of polling and central count locations.

"Texans run Texas elections, and we will not be bullied by the Department of Justice," said Attorney General Paxton in a statement. "The DOJ knows it has no authority to monitor Texas elections and backed down when Texas stood up for the rule of law. No federal agent will be permitted to interfere with Texas's free and fair elections."

-ABC News' Laura Romero