America is concerned about election instability, tightening security

(CLO) Concerns about the risk of political violence during and after Election Day, November 5, have prompted officials to take various measures to enhance security.

The tensions and concerns may be most visible in battleground states that will decide the presidential election, such as Nevada, where protests by supporters of Republican candidate Donald Trump erupted after the 2020 election.

This year, a security fence was erected around the Las Vegas voting center, where some of those protests took place.

A new ballot box is replaced after ballot box arson attacks in Vancouver, Washington, USA. Photo: Reuters

Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin and Washington currently have National Guard troops deployed, while Washington DC, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have troops on standby, a defense official said on November 4.

Concerned about the potential for protests or even violence, some Arizona schools and churches that previously served as voting centers will not operate as polling places this year.

In Arizona, a metal fence has been erected at the Maricopa County vote counting center in downtown Phoenix, a hot spot in 2020 for threats against election officials.

Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner said his department would be on "high alert" for threats and violence, and had ordered officers to be ready for duty.

“We will have a lot of resources, a lot of personnel, a lot of equipment,” he added, noting that drones would be used to monitor activity around polling stations. Snipers and other reinforcements would be ready to deploy if there was a possibility of violence.

He said the days after the election carry a higher risk of violence, so law enforcement will have to maintain a high level of vigilance and "will have zero tolerance for any conduct involving criminal activity."

In the 2020 battleground state of Michigan, Trump supporters poured into a downtown Detroit convention hall and began banging on windows as the counting of absentee ballots stretched into a second day.

Sociology professor Peter Simi at Chapman University in California said the worst-case scenario is that Mr Trump loses and does not concede.

Rather than a repeat of the 2021 attack on the US Capitol, he said the conflict could be “dispersed, diffuse events in multiple locations” that would be more difficult for law enforcement to address.

The precautions extend beyond battleground states. Oregon and Washington, D.C., said they have activated the National Guard. Some storefront windows in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere have been boarded up with plywood.

Ngoc Anh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nuoc-my-lo-ngai-ve-tinh-hinh-bat-on-bau-cu-siet-chat-an-ninh-post320040.html