Governors in at least three states have called for the deployment of National Guard troops to help maintain law and order. An Arizona sheriff has placed his department on high alert to mitigate the risk of potential violence, with drones and snipers ready for any incidents.

As the nation prepares to vote for either Republican Donald Trump or Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election, heightened concerns about potential political violence have prompted officials to implement a series of security measures both in during and after election day.

Most of these precautionary actions are particularly evident in battleground states such as Nevada, where previous protests by former President Trump’s supporters have taken place after the 2020 election.

This year, a security fence surrounds the scene of some of these protests – the tabulation center in Las Vegas. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo said last week that he had activated a “limited contingent” of 60 National Guard members to ensure a timely response to any challenges.

In Arizona, a similar metal fence was erected at the Maricopa County voter registration center in downtown Phoenix, a 2020 flashpoint for rigged election conspiracy theories and threats against election officials.

Sheriff Russ Skinner said his department will be on “high alert” for threats and violence and has instructed personnel to be available for duty.

“We’ll have a lot of resources there, a lot of personnel, a lot of equipment,” he added, noting that deputies will use drones to monitor activity around polling stations, and snipers and other reinforcements will be on standby for deployment if violence ensues. probable.

He said the “polarization” becomes more intense in the days after the election, so law enforcement will remain on high alert and “there will be zero tolerance for anything related to criminal activity.”

Worried about the potential for protests or even violence, several schools and churches in Arizona that have served as polling centers in the past will not serve at the polls this year, a local Arizona election official told Reuters.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has more than 400,000 members in Arizona, offered more polling places to fill the gap.

About a dozen community leaders from across the state and from different political backgrounds and cultures have formed a committee to focus on combating political violence, according to member Jane Andersen, a member of the LDS Church and Arizona democracy protection specialist at Mormon Women for Ethical Government. .

The group is ready to tap into a wide network, including faith leaders, who can help spread factual information to counter unrest fueled by misinformation.

In the 2020 battleground state of Michigan, Trump supporters descended on the convention hall in downtown Detroit and began banging on windows as absentee ballots were counted the next day. Yellow bike racks lined both sides of the boulevard it’s on this year.

Visitors must pass through metal detectors and about 15 police officers patrol the cavernous hall. Daniel Baxter, Detroit’s chief operating officer for absentee voting and special projects, said police are also on the roof and around the building. Eight days of advance preprocessing of mail-in ballots passed peacefully, Baxter said.

Peter Simi, a sociology professor at Chapman University in California who has researched threats against public officials, said the worst-case scenario would be for Trump to lose and not admit defeat.

Rather than a repeat of the 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, he said the standoff could be “dispersed events spread across multiple locations” that would be more difficult for law enforcement to address.

Precautions extend beyond battlefield conditions. Oregon and Washington state authorities said they had activated the National Guard. Some storefronts in Washington, DC and elsewhere were covered with plywood.

Back in Las Vegas, Faviola Garibay surveyed the security fence around the linen-colored building where Clark County officials tabulate votes and where voters like her can drop off their ballots.

“The fencing, the police presence here, it seems secure,” she said. “I feel safe voting.”