BUFFALO, N.Y. — There was a lot of talk about election integrity in the days leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
But at least in Western New York, there did not appear to have been any major issues, according to the two major party chairs in Erie County.
“There have been many issues with the machines, but I have confidence in our Board of Elections that ballots were kept secure and all votes will be counted,” Erie County Republican Chairman Michael Kracker said Tuesday.
Democratic officials confirmed two locations at which machines appeared to have malfunctioned for a short time period. Erie County requires paper ballots to be fed into machines and the paper ballots serve as backups in the event of mechanical problems.
It was a different story elsewhere in America, though. In Georgia and Pennsylvania, bomb threats were made against state election offices and buildings where votes were being counted.
Those bomb threats were deemed "non-credible" and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the threats originated from Russia, which previously tried to meddle in past U.S. elections, according to ABC News.
In Fulton County, Georgia, five polling places that were affected by the bomb threats had their hours extended. A judge in Pennsylvania extended voting hours in Clearfield County until 9 p.m. after a bomb threat was made against an administrative building there.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said there was "no credible threat to the Commonwealth," ABC News reported.
Georgia saw a record turnout despite the threats.