US elections 2020: Fearing post-election violence, Washington boards itself up
Plywood is being used to board up windows and storefronts across Washington in anticipation of a contentious aftermath following Tuesday's presidential election between incumbent Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Dozens of businesses, restaurants and stores near the White House began boarding up their windows and doors on Tuesday for fear of civil unrest.
The Washington Post had plywood placed on its windows at its headquarters while reporters at the Wall Street Journal's DC bureau were given gas masks and helmets marked "Press".
Across the greater metropolitan area, security details were sent to high-profile individuals, including Attorney General William Barr.
The Washington Post tweeted a photo of Barr's house in the suburbs of Virginia being picketed by Trump supporters who believe he had not done enough to lock up Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Last week, students at George Washington University received emails issuing a stern warning: "We suggest preparing for the election day period as you would for a hurricane or a snowstorm," the email read.
They were told to stock up on food and other essential supplies and not go out onto the streets.
Large rallies and demonstrations are expected in cities across the country, and the potential for violence could be due to a number of factors, including who ends up winning, delays in election results, or voter obstruction.
Early on Wednesday, the outcome of the presidential election still hung in the balance with final results in key states not expected to be confirmed for several days.
On Twitter, Trump issued an attack on the electoral system, making an accusation that there was an attempt to "steal the election" in favour of Biden.
Soon after the tweet, Twitter flagged it as potentially misleading.
"We placed a warning on a Tweet from @realDonaldTrump for making a potentially misleading claim about an election," Twitter said early Wednesday. The Republican president said without evidence that "they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it."
Scores of protesters gathered late on Tuesday at Black Lives Matter Plaza, a two-block section in downtown Washington in view of the White House.
In a day that is traditionally celebrated in the US as the practice of one of its core foundations, many fear that a potential transition of power between presidents may lead to violence.
The past year has seen civil strife erupt from police brutality, systemic oppression against Black Americans, as well as the coronavirus pandemic which caused the country to go into lockdown earlier this year.
Mark Warner, a US senator from Virginia and the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on Twitter that the period of time immediately before and after the election is going to be "uniquely volatile".
"This is an unusual election," the senator said. "Our intelligence community has warned that the period immediately before and after Election Day is going to be uniquely volatile, and our adversaries will seek to take advantage of that. Don’t make their jobs any easier."
Fears of tensions on election night were exacerbated after an Axios news report suggested Trump could declare victory prematurely.
While Trump called it a "false report", he repeated his argument that "I don't think it's fair that we have to wait for a long period of time after the election."
He has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that mail-in ballots are open to fraud, warning of uproar and confusion if no clear winner emerged quickly Tuesday night.
Biden has said that the "president is not going to steal this election".
The former vice president also denounced the report of harassment of one of his campaign buses by Trump supporters on a Texas highway.
The FBI confirmed it was investigating the incident in a telling sign of the times.
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