Maine Department of Public Safety says that calls from crisis lines in Maine reporting threats of armed individuals at school campuses around the state are not credible.

“The Maine State Police are working with our various partners and can confirm these initial calls were swatting incidents intended to provoke an emergency response,” spokesperson Shanon Moss stated. “There is presently no known threat to the students, staff or public at this time. The Department of Public Safety encourages law enforcement and school leadership to continue to use due diligence when reviewing any new potential threats.”

Swatting is the practice of calling police to falsely report a shooter in hopes of drawing a SWAT team and causing a disruption at a specific location.

Schools in North Berwick, Bangor and Scarborough have reportedly been subject to swatting on Tuesday. 

Today is Election Day, and public schools are often used by municipalities as polling places. Polls remained open, however, according to the Associated Press.

“Voting continued uninterrupted," Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told The Associated Press. "It’s a testament to the careful planning and communication between clerks and law enforcement.”

In December 2023, Bellows was swatted a day after she made an objection to Donald Trump’s name appearing on the state’s primary ballots, citing the Constiution’s insurrection clause. She later removed her objection after the Supreme Court decision overturning a similar ruling in Colorado.

On Tuesday morning, South Portland High School, which is not a polling place, was placed on lockdown, although “there is no indication of an actual threat,” according to a statement from South Portland police.

The South Portland Community Center, which does serve as a polling place for two of the city’s districts, was placed on lockdown, which has since been lifted, police said. 

Police said "voting was temporarily but only minimally impacted while no one was permitted to enter the building."

"Because a line for voting had already formed inside, people continued to vote during the lockdown," police said. "There was a roughly 10-minute period when no voting occurred due to the lockdown. Voting continued as normal once the lockdown was lifted and will continue today until 8 p.m. as scheduled."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.