With the election just days away, officials in the most competitive battleground states are bracing for misinformation, conspiracy theories, threats and possible violence. In Philadelphia, Detroit and Atlanta, three of former President Trump’s favorite targets for false claims of voter fraud, officials have fortified their operations against a repeat of the chaos of 2020. Philadelphia’s ballot-counting warehouse is now surrounded by fencing topped with barbed wire. In Detroit and Atlanta, some election offices are protected by bullet-proof glass, Reuters reports. In Wisconsin, election workers have been trained on de-escalation techniques and polling stations rearranged so workers have escape routes if they are menaced by protesters. In Arizona, an epicenter of false claims in 2020 by Republicans about rigged voting, the secretary of state is working with local officials on how to respond to misinformation, including deep-fake images of purported fraud. Officials say they can’t predict or control what Trump and his allies might say on election night as the votes are being counted.
“If it's razor thin, then they're going to throw everything they got, right?” said Philadelphia City Commissioner Lisa Deeley, a Democrat. “There’s nothing we can do to stop the former president from continuing his campaign of misinformation and disinformation. But what we can do is continue to push back on that with facts.” Deeley and 30 other election officials from both parties said they are preparing for a replay of 2020, when Trump and his lawyers pushed false charges about late-night ballot dumps and rigged machines in an effort to overturn his loss. Clerks nationwide have been subjected to threats and harassment from Trump supporters convinced the election was stolen. In a statement, Danielle Alvarez of the Republican National Committee said the party had recruited 230,000 poll watchers, poll workers and legal experts to “bring transparency and accountability” to the election. "While Democrats will stop at nothing to weaken our elections, we are fighting for a fair and secure process where every legal vote is counted properly," she said. Trump has repeated the falsehood that he won in 2020 while signaling he would contest a loss to Vice President Harris. He wrote on the Truth Social platform that there was "rampant Cheating and Skulduggery" in 2020 and threatened election officials and others “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this cycle with prosecution. Election officials say one of their biggest fears is a razor-close result where the outcome will hinge on court fights over small numbers of disputed ballots.
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