Bomb Hoaxes and ‘Swatting’ Attempts Target Public Officials as 2024 Begins

The caller had tipped off the authorities in Maine on Friday night: He told them that he had broken into the home of Shenna Bellows, the state’s top election official, a Democrat who one night earlier had disqualified former President Donald J. Trump from the primary ballot because of his actions during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

No one was home when officers arrived, according to Maine State Police, who labeled the false report as a “swatting” attempt, one intended to draw a heavily armed law enforcement response.

In the days since, more bogus calls and threats have rolled in across the country. On Wednesday, state capitol buildings in Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi and Montana were evacuated or placed on lockdown after the authorities said they had received bomb threats that they described as false and nonspecific. The F.B.I. said it had no information to suggest any threats were credible.

The incidents intensified a climate of intimidation and the harassment of public officials, including those responsible for overseeing ballot access and voting. Since 2020, election officials have confronted rising threats and difficult working conditions, aggravated by rampant conspiracy theories about fraud. The episodes suggested 2024 would be another heated election year.

Gabriel Sterling, a top election official in Georgia who debunked Mr. Trump’s election fraud claims in 2020 in the battleground state, urged caution on Wednesday.

“Do not jump to conclusions as to who is responsible,” Mr. Sterling wrote on social media. “There will be chaos agents sowing discord for 2024. They want to increase tensions. Don’t let them.”

Mr. Sterling later said he was among the public officials who have been