Police, Guard units prep for Election Day violence
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Scott Maus and sheriff's K9 "Kara" check incoming ballots at an LA County ballot processing center last week. Photo: David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
National Guard units in several states and local law enforcement agencies are on alert or standby this week as authorities prepare for any violence by extremist groups upset about the election results.
Why it matters: Right-wing groups backing former President Trump have been urging those on platforms such as Telegram to watch the polls and dispute results unfavorable to Trump, causing fears of chaos at polling sites.
State of play: Voting locations in cities and rural areas are getting security upgrades, sometimes with concrete barriers, extra fencing and locked doors.
- Some election offices — including those in the seven swing states likely to decide the election — have installed bulletproof glass, panic buttons or video surveillance in their headquarters to protect staff amid concerns of violence.
- Poll workers also have gone through de-escalation training to help them respond to possible threats on Election Night.
- Officials in many states have increased their lines of communication with local law enforcement since 2020, to help authorities respond faster to any problems.
Zoom in: National Guard units are on standby in Washington State, Oregon and Nevada. The move in Oregon and Washington comes after hundreds of ballots were damaged or destroyed in those states when ballot drop boxes were set on fire.
- Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) recently activated National Guard cyber teams statewide, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
- Cyber units in Connecticut also are providing municipal cybersecurity reviews.
- In Iowa, Guard members are assisting with selection security, providing 24-hour threat monitoring.
Zoom out: Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told a judge last week that he regularly wears a bulletproof vest because of threats from critics who accused him of not running a fair election system, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
- In New Mexico's Sandoval County, just north of Albuquerque, SWAT team units have been placed on call. Last year, Solomon Peña, an unsuccessful New Mexico Republican candidate for the state House, was facing federal charges for allegedly shooting at Democratic officials' homes.
- Officials in Detroit have moved a central polling location and added more security to avoid a repeat of a chaotic scene in 2020 when pro-Trump supporters yelled insults at poll workers and urged them to "stop the count."
In Washington, D.C., security fencing has gone up around the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the Naval Observatory, where Vice President Harris lives.
- Streets also will be closed in the area around Howard University, Harris' alma mater, where Harris plans to hold her Election Night watch party.
- The Secret Service confirmed to Axios that security enhancements have been made to the Capitol in the run-up to Congress' scheduled certification of presidential electors on Jan. 6.
What they're saying: "Anybody who thinks it's time to play militia, F around and find out," Philadelphia District Attorney Lawrence S. Krasner said at a press conference Monday in a stem warning to potential election disrupters.
- "Anybody who thinks it's time to insult, to deride, to mistreat, to threaten people, F around and find out."
- He said Philadelphia and the state had the "the cuffs," the jail cells and the state prisons for anyone trying to bully voters or "erase votes."
Go deeper: The transparent election: GPS ballot-tracking and counting on livestream
