With tensions flaring and a rash of assassination attempts during an election year like no other, security is on everyone’s mind.  Several states have activated National Guard units in advance of today’s election, though the true motivation for those activations is considered themselves political in nature by many, given that authorities have stated there are no specific credible threats driving those activations.

Meanwhile in Maricopa County, Arizona there are surveillance drones and snipers at the ready at multiple polling stations in anticipation of the Election Day violence we have been warned about for months.

Maricopa County, 6th largest in the country, votes will be counted with drones overhead and police snipers standing ready. Election workers have gone through active-shooter drills+learned to barricade themselves or wield fire hoses to repel armed mobshttps://t.co/ZDPtCX9Nsi

— Ty (@TylerCadeofTX) November 5, 2024

Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner has stated that they are treating Election Day like the Super Bowl in terms of security measures, according to a report in the BBC, fielding drones and snipers to meet the expected threats.

“We do treat this like a major event, like the Super Bowl,” Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner told the BBC.

The county, the fourth most populous in the US and home to about 60% of Arizona’s voters, has been planning for the election for more than a year, according to Skinner.

The sheriff’s department handles security at polling stations and the centre where ballots are counted. The deputies have now been trained in election laws, something most law enforcement wouldn’t be well-versed in.

“Our hope is that it doesn’t arise to a level of need for that,” he said when asked about beefed-up security measures like drones and snipers. “But we will be prepared to ensure that we meet the level of need, to ensure the safety and security of that building” and its employees.

The election process here in many ways echoes that in counties across the country. Ballots are cast in voting locations across the county and then taken to a central area in Phoenix where they’re tabulated. If they’re mailed in, the ballots are inspected and signatures are verified. They’re counted in a meticulous process that includes two workers – from differing political parties – sorting them and examining for any errors.

The process is livestreamed 24 hours a day.

The tabulation centre is now bristling with security cameras, armed security and a double layer of fencing.

Thick canvas blankets cover parts of a parking lot fencing to keep prying eyes out. Officials say the canvas was an added measure to protect employees from being harassed and threatened outside the building.

Drones and snipers on standby to protect Arizona vote-counters https://t.co/0caJKJE3R4

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 5, 2024

Arizona is not the only state with beefed-up security for today’s election.  Nevada and other states have added security fencing around many polling locations in large population centers.  According to a report in Reuters, in addition to the 3 Democrat-led states which recently mobilized their National Guard units for the vote, a total of 19 states have now activated National Guard units to varying degrees in anticipation of violence.

A security fence rings a Las Vegas building where a Nevada county tabulates votes. An Arizona sheriff has his department on high alert to guard against potential violence with drones and snipers on standby. The National Guard has been or will be activated in 19 states so far to help maintain peace.

As a tense America votes on Tuesday for either Republican Donald Trump or Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president, concerns about potential political violence have prompted officials to take a variety of measures to bolster security during and after Election Day.

Many of the most visible moves can be seen in the battleground states that will decide the presidential election, states like Nevada where protests by Trump supporters broke out after the 2020 election.

This year, a security fence rings the scene of some of those protests – the Las Vegas tabulation center.

A defense official said on Monday that Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin and Washington state have current National Guard missions while Washington DC, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have troops on standby.

The problem with all this, during an election year in an allegedly free nation, is it can easily equate to a form of voter intimidation — simply by implying that violence is incredibly likely.  (Not to mention, most of those taking these actions are Democrats who are outspoken in claiming that Trump supporters are likely to resort to violence if the election does not turn out how we want it to turn out.)

There are snipers and drones in Maricopa county to protect people from imaginary election threats while our southern border is wide open and every single second more and more women and children are being trafficked. How can people not see the government is broken?

— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) November 5, 2024

That is indeed a sad reflection of the current state of our nation, with the heaviest burden landing on those who are daily seeding the population to expect “Hitler” and the “Nazis” who follow him to rise in the form of Trump and MAGA in order to give the Third Reich another shot at manifesting in right-wing utopian racist fascism.  (It’s crazy how hard it is to fit all the slanderous lies being thrown around in to a single sentence — I can’t do it!)

With any hope, tonight’s results will come swiftly and clearly — and no shadow of room for misinformation to take root.  But considering how premeditatively “gaslit” the American population is at the moment, I’m afraid I can say that will happen with certainty.