Security tightens as we enter final weekend of campaign, world watches US presidential race with growing concern

Chicago residents wait in line to cast their votes at the Loop Supersite on Nov. 2, 2024, ahead of the Nov. 5 general election. Photo: VCG

As the political atmosphere in America becomes increasingly intense as Election Day, November 5, approaches, the world’s attention is focused on the US presidential elections; Many states, especially swing states, are bracing for potential election violence and unrest. Rather than uniting the country, the elections have left the United States even more divided and uncertain, analysts said.

The AP reported Sunday that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump “focused on the Sun Belt on Saturday, embarking on a quest last weekend to sway all the undecided voters in the battleground states.” “They put forward competing agendas on the economy and more, each insisting that’s what Americans want.”

The two candidates are “making their final push in swing states,” the New York Times reported Saturday, as they spend the final weekend before Election Day trying to persuade the last remaining holdouts by urging their supporters to the polls and presenting their cases at a series of rallies across the South on Saturday.

As the campaign intensifies, concerns about violence that may result from the election also increase. With the U.S. election just days away, officials in the most competitive battleground states are bracing for misinformation, conspiracy theories, threats and possible violence, according to Reuters on Wednesday.

In Philadelphia, Detroit and Atlanta, Trump’s three favorite targets for voter fraud, authorities have stepped up operations against a repeat of 2020’s chaos. Philadelphia’s ballot counting depot is now surrounded by fences topped with barbed wire. Some election offices in Detroit and Atlanta are protected by bulletproof glass.

In Wisconsin, election workers were trained in de-escalation techniques and polling places were rearranged to provide escape routes for workers if they were threatened by protesters.

In Arizona, which was the epicenter of false Republican claims of fraudulent voting in 2020, the secretary of state is working with local officials on how to respond to misinformation, including deepfake images of alleged fraud, Reuters reported.

The problem isn’t just in swing states. Washington state’s governor said on Friday that he had activated some members of the National Guard to stand by following information and concerns about potential violence related to the 2024 election, Reuters reported. The state, where Democrat Kamala Harris is easily expected to defeat Trump, according to polls, was one of the two states where ballot boxes were set on fire earlier in the week.

CNN reported that the National Guard was also present in Oregon and Nevada as a precaution against “possible” election unrest.

The United States has seen numerous attacks on the voting process in the past week, The Guardian reported on Saturday; These include not only the burning of ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington, but also a bomb threat in Pennsylvania and a fight between a poll worker and a voter. A man was arrested in San Antonio, Arizona, after local authorities said he had amassed a cache of weapons and ammunition and was believed to be “preparing to commit an act of mass murder.”

Troubled political system

The International Crisis Group (ICG), a non-governmental organization dedicated to conflict prevention, said in an article published on Tuesday that the risk of election-related violence has not been eliminated. “Partisan polarization remains high, helping to create an atmosphere in which both parties claim their electoral interests are existential. Public support for political violence has increased.”

In an April NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist presidential election poll, 20 percent of respondents agreed that “Americans may have to resort to violence to get their country back on track.”

Current projections show that only three states—Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—could elect the next U.S. president. The ICG article noted that these and other potential battlegrounds (Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina) are the most likely hot spots in the event of a protracted fight over who wins.

Jin Canrong, vice dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Sunday about his observations of the US presidential election.

First, the judiciary is used for political purposes. The judicial system in the USA is supposed to be independent of the two parties, but now both parties are attacking each other with legal approaches; Second, policy-making has become politicized, as policies no longer serve the public’s interest, but have absolute connection with the interests of the two parties, Jin said.

Additionally, Jin said that US politicians will not concede and accept defeat easily. “US society is very divided, and will it become even more divided after this election?”

Shen Yi, a professor of international relations at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Sunday: “According to the polls, the gap between the two candidates will be very close, so no matter who wins the election, the other side and their supporters will be fighting back from the candidates throughout the entire election campaign.” “As well as claiming that this year’s elections are important for the future of US democracy or a matter of the survival of the country, he was shot in an assassination attempt, so many worry that neither Democrats nor Republicans will be ready to accept defeat peacefully.”

Allies worried about policy change

The US presidential election worries not only its own people, but also countries around the world, especially US allies who are deeply affected by US policy.

The United States’ European allies are “preparing for an America that cares less about whoever wins the presidential election, and for old traumas and new problems if Donald Trump returns to the White House,” a report by Voice of America said. was given. Thursday.

The elections come more than 2.5 years after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in which Washington made the biggest contribution to Kiev’s defense. The Voice of America report stated that there are question marks about whether this will continue under the Trump administration and how dependent it will be on NATO allies in general.

Shen said that with increasing uncertainty in the United States, countries around the world are likely to make greater efforts to maintain distance from the United States when making important decisions in the future, as they need to avoid the risk of frequent policy U-turns in Washington.