Effect of Bomb Threats on Voter Turn Out

In the 2024 general election, bomb threats disrupted polling places across Georgia, USA, prompting several counties to extend voting hours in response. Working with Professor Philip Stark, I used non-parametric, monte carlo permutation tests to evaluate whether extending polling hours actually compensated for the disruption, testing for evidence of a measurable effect on the in-person day-of voter turnout in affected precincts.

Results found statistically significantly lower turnout in Dekalb county and a non-significant difference in Fulton. Ultimately these results indicate that extending polling hours do not compensate for poll closures due to threats.

The code and data for this analysis are available in the georgia-2024-election repository, with the paper presented at E-Vote-ID 2025 and available here (Andrade & Stark, 2025). A poster presented at BSTARS is available here. The results were also presented in a panel at the ESRA conference in June 2026.