The Secret Service has installed 8-foot tall metal fencing around the White House and Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence as D.C. girds for potential political unrest after Tuesday’s election.
While D.C. police said there are currently no credible threats and that businesses boarding up are undertaking “a proactive measure, and there’s no need for any alarm,” evidence is growing that hardline, conspiratorial election denialists are gearing up to disrupt the vote or lash out in the aftermath.
“You will notice increased patrols in key areas downtown and around the White House,” D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela A. Smith told reporters. “We want residents and visitors alike to feel assured that MPD is here, prepared and dedicated to keep communities safe across all seven districts.”
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Smith and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, assured Washingtonians that Election Day would be orderly, that attendees of Kamala Harris’ party at Howard University would be safe, and that the police are prepared for any issues that might arise. But they also signaled that they have real worries about the violence that might occur once results start rolling in.
A New York Times analysis published Monday uncovered a “sprawling and interconnected movement intended to question the credibility of the presidential election, interfere with the voting process and potentially dispute the outcome.”
The network, spread across dozens of Telegram channels with more than half a million members, revealed an “increased sophistication of the election denialism movement,” the Times reported. Alarmingly, posts from election denier groups, the paper reported, trickled out to channels of extremist groups, namely the neo-fascist Proud Boys, who were instrumental in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The Telegram channels uncovered by the Times included instructions for election deniers to query local officials in person about absentee ballots in New Hampshire, and go to election board meetings and argue for limits on absentee voting in Georgia.
One New Mexico channel urged people to record voting stations on camera, file police reports, and prepare to “fight like hell.”
The Times said Telegram accounts for several Proud Boys chapters used false claims of election fraud to recruit members, in some cases suggesting violence.
The paper noted one particularly popular image, depicting an armed man wearing a balaclava face covering and with a menacing tagline: “Free men do not obey public servants.”
Bowser and Smith wouldn’t bite when asked about what electoral outcomes they were most worried about in terms of security, or about whether they had identified specific groups as potential threats.
“We just don’t see anything right now based on our intelligence gathering at this point,” Smith said.
After the attack on the Capitol four years ago, Bowser added that between Election Day and the inauguration, she expects to make a “preliminary overture” to the National Guard, followed by a formal request. She also requested the certification of the votes on January 6 be deemed a National Special Security Event, bringing the Secret Service in on the planning. Asked about her own mood, she painted a dark vision.
“I feel very sad that this, this the state of things, to be honest with you,” said Bowser. “But the way that I deal with anxiety is to work and to make sure that we are as prepared as we can be.”
Meanwhile, D.C. is not the only U.S. locale girding for violence or unrest.
The Secret Service said physical security measures will be rolled out at the West Palm Beach, Florida, convention center where former President Donald Trump and his supporters will gather on election night.
Some businesses in Portland, Oregon—where riots and protests followed the 2016 and 2020 elections—have begun boarding up windows and hiring extra security, local news station KOIN and newspaper The Oregonian reported.
Others business owners have opted to take a wait and see approach, they told KATU News.
“We never can eliminate risk, but the confidence that I have in our community, the confidence I have in our law enforcement response, I’m really hopeful that that’s not going to be necessary,” Portland police chief Bob Day said, at a press conference last week.
