US election 2024: Polling station chaos amid reports of man with gun and bomb squad swoop

Footage shows bomb squad police outside a polling station in Florida after reports of a "suspicious package" being found.

Voters are heading to the polls across the United States and with tensions riding high in the United States over the presidential elections, people going to cast their vote at a station in Jacksonville have had to evacuate the building.

Americans face a stark choice between two candidates who have offered drastically different temperaments and visions for the ’s largest economy and dominant military power.

More than 82 million people voted early. Those casting election day ballots have mostly encountered a smooth process around the country, with isolated reports of hiccups that regularly happen, including long lines, technical issues and ballot printing errors.

But there is a fear that trouble could flare from either side if the result doesn't go their way and there have been incidents of trouble during polling so far.

A man was arrested in upstate New York after threatening to burn down a polling site and now members of the bomb squad have been pictured at the polling station in Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad was sent to the Beaver Street Enterprise Center in Northwest Jacksonville after receiving reports of a “suspicious package” at the polling site, according to officials.

Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland told local media that voters were being taken outside and will “still be able to vote because the [site’s] equipment is on battery power.”

In New York the man went to vote in the town of Fowler near the Canadian border at about 6:30am, New York State Police said in a news release. The man, who had previously been convicted of a felony, was told that he was ineligible to vote because he had not re-registered after being released from prison.

The man became irate and began threatening to return with a gun or to burn the place down, police said. The man fled but was later picked up by state police and brought to the station for questioning. Charges against him were pending.