One Louisiana Polling location was slammed with a bomb threat and has been forced to issue a change of venue while they severely tighten security, reported the Louisiana secretary of state.
Kyle Ardoin, the Louisana Secretary of State, officially announced the swap for the venue of the polling location from its first area at Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy on Loyola Drive in Baton Rouge to Audubon Elementary School on Tuesday.
“I am exceedingly grateful to Kenner Chief of Police Keith Conley and Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto for their prompt response and thorough investigation, which appears to show that this was never targeted toward voters or election workers. I also applaud our department’s elections staff and Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court Jon Gegenheimer for this quick response to move the location and inform voters of the emergency move,” explained Ardoin in a release.
Additional personnel and security have been set up at the first location in order to push voters over to the new location. Any voter that had signed up for electronic notifications of change was issued an email with the info.
“It was not a threat to elections, voters or election workers,” expressed a spokesman for the Louisiana secretary of state, John Tobler, as reported by Fox News.
The Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy had been shut down in order to facilitate the Election day events where it was utilized as a polling location. The bomb threat was thought to be in relation to a previous threat issued Thursday, as reported by the social media account for the Kenner Police Department.
“Kenner Police are on scene investigating and trying to determine if this will be related to a bomb threat the school received on Thursday, November 3, 2022,” explained the social media account.
‼️ Kenner Discovery School received a bomb threat earlier this morning. Kenner Police are on scene investigating and trying to determine if this will be related to a bomb threat the school received on Thursday, November 3, 2022. ‼️ pic.twitter.com/A1q9ZxzbAS
— Kenner PD (@KennerPolice) November 8, 2022
As seen with the previous threat, all students and staff were quickly evacuated from campus.
“All middle and high school students have evacuated the Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy Loyola and Vintage campuses due to an electronic bomb threat called into the high school demanding bitcoin payment. The Kenner Police and Fire Departments are searching the buildings,” expressed the school’s Chief Executive Officer Dr. Patty Glaser in a released statement after the incident took place.
“Middle and High school students have been safely evacuated and their transport home arranged. Teachers and staff are also out of the buildings,” she went on. No bomb was discovered in that incident.
All of the available voting booths were shifted over to Audubon Elementary and no interruption to voting is expected, explained Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court John Gegenheimer to 4WWL-TV Louisiana.
Voting at Kenner Discovery for Precinct K007A & K007B is now located at Audubon Elementary (200 West Loyola Dr. in Kenner). Voters with questions about their polling location should call the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Election Hotline at 800-883-2805
— Jefferson Parish (@JeffParishGov) November 8, 2022
