The National Guard was on standby, special weapons teams were stationed on roofs, and poll workers had panic buttons.

Given worries about potential civil unrest, election chicanery, or violence against election workers, security for Tuesday’s Election Day is being stepped up to previously unheard-of levels in the highly unpredictable 2024 US presidential election campaign.

Security has been increased at many of the country’s almost 100,000 voting places, the FBI has established a command centre to keep an eye on potential threats, and the states of Oregon, Washington, and Nevada have called in the National Guard.

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that since 2020, 19 states have passed legislation to improve election security, including crucial electoral battlegrounds Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada.

Authorities are eager to reassure anxious Americans that their ballots are safe, as Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris remain tied at the end of the election. However, they are also strengthening physical security for nationwide election operations.

Runbeck polling Services, a company that supplies poll workers with security technologies, told AFP on Monday that it had bought about 1,000 panic buttons for its clients, who include polling sites and their staff.

These tiny gadgets, which are carried in a pocket or worn as a lanyard, connect to a user’s cell phone and notify police enforcement or other authorities in the event of crisis.

In the seven swing states that are most keenly monitored, officials are keen to express confidence in a safe and fair election.

Voting is simple here in Georgia, and cheating is difficult. On Monday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger assured reporters, “Our people are prepared and our systems are safe.”

He said that fringe activists may provide “extra drama” to the proceedings.

In Georgia, a battleground state where Trump is being charged of meddling in the 2020 election by urging authorities to “find” enough votes to reverse Joe Biden’s victory, Raffensperger said that he expects the election to be safe.

Officials have transformed Maricopa County, the state’s primary election and ballot counting centre, into a veritable fortress in Arizona, a southwestern swing state that became the centre of election night chaos and conspiracy allegations in 2020.

Officials say it now has barbed wire, armed guards, wrought-iron gates, and a SWAT presence on the roof.

In addition to strengthening physical security and combating misinformation, the steps have been made to reassure voters that the procedure is safe.

“Based on the advice of law enforcement and other experts, our office has implemented permanent barriers, expanded badge security access, and added additional cybersecurity measures since January 2021,” Maricopa County Recorder’s Office communications director Taylor Kinnerup told AFP on Monday.

Layers of security: Although it did not elaborate, Pennsylvania’s Department of State, which is in charge of elections in the biggest swing state in the US, stated that its preparedness consists of multi-layered infrastructural defences as well as collaborations with security and law enforcement organisations.

The additional security measures come in the wake of the 2020 election upheaval, especially when Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021, with the intention of stopping the certification of the election results that declared Biden the victor.

Authorities are also alerting the public to serious hacking and cyberthreats, especially from outside.

The head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Jen Easterly, recently told NBC News that China, Russia, and Iran are engaging in influence operations “to stoke partisan discord” and to erode American trust in the validity of elections.

She went on to say that the “firehose of disinformation” is posing actual bodily risks to election officials, election workers, and their families.

The New York Times says that right-wing organisations are using social media platforms like Telegram to organise poll monitors and have them ready to potentially contest elections in Democratic districts.

Authorities in Washington, meantime, have issued a warning about a “fluid, unpredictable security environment” in the days and potentially weeks following the conclusion of the elections. Anticipating possible upheaval, businesses in the capital have started to board up their shopfronts.