The vote was suspended for about three hours Tuesday when a pipe bomb was found outside a polling station in Iowa, officials said.
A couple walking with their dog found the device just before 9:30 a.m. outside Lakeside Center, a multi-purpose building in Ankeny, Polk County Police and Auditor and Electoral Commissioner Jamie Fitzgerald said.
The center, about 15 kilometers north of downtown Des Moines, was one of 14 sites in Ankeny where voters cast their ballots on a local benchmark for school spending.
Voting in downtown Lakeside came to a halt as authorities worked to secure the explosive, which had a fuse, and could not explode remotely. Corey Schneben said.
Voters and polling stations were forced to evacuate the building, and a bomb squad from the state firefighter’s office was called to the scene.
Authorities lifted the evacuation order and the vote was resumed after the device was safely detonated, but no arrests were made immediately in connection with the incident.
Officials said they did not believe the explosives were linked to Tuesday’s vote.
“We have no indication of that,” Schneben told NBC News. ‘Usually, in an election like this, you can get about a thousand people to vote for it. It was not like a big headline in the newspaper saying that this (election) is taking place. ‘
The explosive was made from a CPVC pipe, about 6 to 8 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter, two caps and explosive powder inside, according to Ron Humphrey, Iowa State Fire Marshal’s special agent.
“If someone was within 20 to 50 feet, there would have been some kind of injury, but it wasn’t that big,” Humphrey said Wednesday.
It was not clear how long the device had been there, as about a dozen voters had to be sent to other polling stations, Fitzgerald said.
Although no one was injured Tuesday, U.S. Representative Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, said the incident was still a cause for concern.
“I am deeply concerned to learn that a pipe bomb was found at a polling station in Ankeny earlier today,” she said in a tweet on Tuesday. “This threat to our election is unacceptable, and those responsible must be held accountable for this attempt at violence against our democracy and its citizens.”
Criterion AA, which asked voters whether the Ankney Community School District should spend on various capital and infrastructure upgrades, passed 1,298 to 172.
Fitzgerald thanked the dog walkers who spotted the explosive next to a light pole near the downtown parking lot and told election staff.
“It’s nice that everyone sees something and says something,” Fitzgerald said.
