Bomb threat forces officials to close New Orleans polling station

published 8 November 2022

Police are investigating a bomb threat against a polling station at a high school in a New Orleans suburb, The Washington Post reports. In a news release, the Louisiana secretary of state said early investigations indicate that the threat was not related to voting. Still, officials closed the school and directed voters to another polling station.

The bomb threat was received by Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy, a high school slotted to serve as a polling station in Kenner, Louisiana. The Kenner police department stated they were investigating any possible connection to a bomb threat the school received last week. The campus had to be evacuated last Thursday after someone called in a bomb threat while demanding bitcoin in an "electronic voice," per the Post.

In response to the most recent threat, officials shut down the high school polling location and reassigned voters to John James Audubon Elementary School, which is five minutes away from the first site. Agency spokesman John Tobler said they also moved three voting machines to an additional polling station down the street. Poll workers were onsite to redirect voters affected by the closing to Audobon from Kenner Discovery's parking lot. Officials plan to make the reassignment permanent to prevent voters from any discomfort related to the threat.

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Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.

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