Americans are prepared for civil unrest amid terrifying predictions of “blood” during Tuesday’s sharp presidential election, reviving painful memories of recent assassinations and post-2020 election mayhem.
Businesses in Washington DC had their windows boarded up on Monday as security fencing was erected around the White House, US Vice President Harris’ residence and other key buildings in the capital.
Fighting has broken out at polling stations and election workers have prepared for gun attacks, amid a wave of threats to blow up political offices and other sensitive locations ahead of election day.
Washington state has activated some National Guard members to standby, while a Democratic congressman has warned that “blood could be spilled” due to clashes between angry voters.
Police and security guards are on standby for election chaos Portland, Oregon, with its history of Antifa violence, and where Mayor Ted Wheeler warns of “uncertainty and tension” during the election.
A Trump supporter, left, confronts a Harris fan outside an event for Tim Walz in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, last week.
Workers install anti-scaling fencing and other security measures around Howard University in D.C., where Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris will spend election night
The 2024 race has already seen bloodshed, with the July 13 shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, leaving the former president dead and one participant dead and another two injured.
The contest was also marred by scathing rhetoric between the rival campaigns. A speaker at a Trump rally recently spoke of the “slaughter” of Democrats, and Trump himself has spoken of “shooting” former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
Meanwhile, Harris has called Trump a “threat” to democracy who must be defeated at the ballot box, while her boss, outgoing President Joe Biden, has called MAGA Republican supporters “trash.”
Meanwhile, the specter of January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the former president’s election loss to Biden, has cast a long shadow over US politics.
This time around, Trump has repeatedly refused to say whether he will accept the election results and is already accusing fraud and deception in swing states like Pennsylvania, laying the groundwork for what many fear will be more unrest.
Trump supporter Bill Robinson, 65, from North Carolina, says some form of violence now seems likely.
“It’s a terrible possibility because it appears there is no other option other than some form of extreme unrest,” Robinson told USA Today.
Tensions rose Monday as Trump and his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, made their final attempt to sway voters, hours before polls opened Tuesday in a close-call contest that hinges on a handful of electoral battlegrounds.
The election prediction website 538 slightly favors Trump to win the White House, with a 52 percent chance against 48 percent for Harris — but for many commentators the race is more or less a dead end.
Congressman Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, warned Thursday that “blood could be shed” if Harris beats Trump at the ballot box. He said Republican supporters may not accept defeat.
“I think Kamala is going to win the popular vote by at least five, six million votes,” he told NewsNation.
“I think she’ll get the electoral vote, but I don’t think Trump will stop at anything. It will be in court; it will be a lawsuit. He will once again tell people to go to the Capitol if you want to have a country and fight like hell.”
Cohen added, “There may be blood and there is some concern.”
Workers are seen boarding up storefronts and ground-floor buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House
Authorities working to extinguish a fire at a polling place in Vancouver, WA, began early Monday morning. It was one of two fires set early Monday at two polling places in two separate states
Former President Donald Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in July.
These shocking feelings have been evident in recent days in Washington DC, where fencing now surrounds the White House, the US Capitol and the vice president’s residence.
Workers hammered fresh-smelling plywood into place at several businesses along Pennsylvania Avenue and the Treasury Department complex. Some are fortifying windows and entrances at street level in case of looting or rioting.
City authorities there have warned of a “fluid, unpredictable security environment” in the days and possibly weeks after polls close, as many do not expect a clear winner to be declared on Election Day.
“There is concern throughout the city,” Eric J. Jones, a local official, told The Washington Post.
But he added that this was mainly a precautionary measure in case of social unrest, saying: “We do not expect full-fledged pandemonium like we saw after January 6.”
A survey of 1,003 likely voters conducted in partnership with JL Partners shows that a shocking number of Americans believe the election could quickly turn violent and even escalate into full-scale conflict.
More than 25 percent say they believe there will be riots if Harris or Trump wins, and 10 percent fear a civil war will break out.
Just over one in five (22 percent) said a Democratic victory would lead to a repeat of January 6, and 21 percent said election sites or Democratic officials would be targeted for direct attacks.
Harris voters are more likely to believe there will be riots, while Republicans are divided over whether the election will be fair.
However, if Donald Trump narrowly wins the Electoral College, Americans believe there is a greater chance of ‘violence in the streets’ in the form of furious protests.
Pennsylvania, perhaps the most important state in the race, has already been at the center of fraud allegations that have made their way to the Supreme Court.
Passersby stand in front of a fence on the White House grounds
Workers will install an anti-limescale fence around the White House and the Treasury Department on Sunday
US Secret Service agents will be part of the security forces in the US capital from Election Day and beyond
Donald Trump supporters are confronted by police at the US Capitol during a protest aimed at stopping the transfer of power to Joe Biden, on January 6, 2021
In the Keystone State, Edward Dieri Jr. accused of threatening to blow up a Republican office in Montgomery County.
Jeffrey Michael Kelly was arrested in Arizona on October 23 for allegedly shooting a Democratic campaign office three times.
He was also accused of posting signs outside his home with razor blades and a small bag of white powder attached to them.
A man allegedly attacked a poll worker who twice asked him to remove his MAGA hat in San Antonio, Texas, where political attire is banned at polling stations.
In Oregon and Washington, the FBI and police are still hunting for an arsonist who set fire to three ballot boxes.
Washington state’s governor said Friday he was activating some National Guard members to standby after information and fears about election violence.
Ballot boxes were set on fire earlier this week in the state where Harris is expected to defeat Trump, polls show.
Hundreds of ballots have been damaged or destroyed by the use of the incendiary mailbox device in the city of Vancouver, Gov. Jay Inslee said.
“Based on general and specific information and concerns about the potential for violence or other unlawful activity in connection with the 2024 general election, I want to ensure we are fully prepared to respond,” Inslee said Friday.