Threats of violence on polling locations in 10 Georgia counties

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Email threats aimed at polling places

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said several county employees have received threats discussing Tuesday's election.

There have been threats of violence on polling locations in almost a dozen Georgia counties. The GBI and the FBI are now looking into those threats.  

Cherokee County is one of 10 counties where threats have been made. Several county employees received concerning emails over the weekend.

"Threatening emails about potential violence at polling stations in Cherokee County," said Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Capt. Jay Baker.

State and federal authorities are trying to determine who sent those threatening emails.

"We have a really good intelligence department here at the GBI, they're working hand in hand with our federal partners and I'm confident we'll eventually find who the sender is," said GBI Director Vic Reynolds.

Director Reynolds said once they determine who sent these threats, they will take appropriate action.  

In the short term, Cherokee County is stepping up patrols near the polls Tuesday. This is in addition to the plans that were already in place to have law enforcement at all 40 polling locations.

"We're getting assistance from the Cherokee County Marshals office, the municipal police in Cherokee and Cherokee County School Police," said Capt. Baker.  

The Secretary of State's Office is aware of the threats.  They would not go into detail about the emails but ask voters to not let the threats prevent them from casting their ballots Tuesday.

"We encourage everyone to please turn out, be safe, be smart, and don't let anyone get in the way of you casting your vote," said Gabriel Sterling with the Secretary of State's office.

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