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Election officials across the United States say they fear for the safety of their staff amid threats and harassment from protesters, fueled by Donald Trump’s claims of a corrupt election.
Groups of Triumph Supporters have gathered outside of the vote tabulation sites in Phoenix, Detroit and Philadelphia, denouncing the counts that showed Democrats Joe biden leading or gaining ground.
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Trump supporters have been rallying in Phoenix, Arizona
It comes when Facebook took down a fast-growing group in which Trump supporters posted threats of violence.
The “Stop The Steal” group, which called for “boots on the ground to protect the integrity of the vote”, was gaining 1,000 new members every 10 seconds and had grown to 365,000 members in one day.
“The group organized around the delegitimization of the electoral process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members,” said a Facebook spokeswoman.
While protests in front of the counting stations have so far not been violent or very large, local officials were distressed by the harassment of poll workers.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel tweeted a petition to “stop making harassing and threatening calls” to her staff.
“Asking them to push spikes in awkward places is never appropriate and is a sad comment on the state of our nation,” wrote Ms. Nessel, a Democrat.
He was referring to a false conspiracy theory that Trump supporters were told to fill out the ballots with Sharpie markers instead of regular pens so the machines would not count their votes.
About 100 supporters of the president chanted in Las Vegas
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs told CNN that her main concern was staff safety, but that sheriff’s deputies were providing protection.
He said the protesters were “causing delays and disruptions and preventing those employees from doing their jobs.”
On Thursday, about 100 Trump supporters gathered again in front of the Maricopa County Election Center in Phoenix, some with rifles and military-style pistols. Arizona law allows people to carry guns openly.
The downtown authorities used fences to create a “free speech zone” and keep the entrance to the building open.
The crowd took turns chanting “count the votes” and “four more years,” and complained through a megaphone about the voting process.
Some briefly chased after a man holding a sign depicting the president as a Nazi pig behind a stage where right-wing radio host Alex Jones was speaking.
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“They are trying to steal the election, but America knows what happened and is fighting back,” Jones told the crowd.
“1776 is the answer to 1984,” he said, in an apparent reference to the United States Declaration of Independence and George Orwell’s dystopian novel.
The group paused to listen as Trump spoke from the White House, where he repeated many of his baseless claims of a rigged vote.
They shouted and clapped when the president said, “We are on our way to winning Arizona.” Yet Biden is still leading the way there, albeit by a slim margin of more than 47,000 votes.
Both sides held rallies in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Both sides held rallies in Philadelphia on Thursday, where election staff slowly counted thousands of mail ballots.
that could decide the crucial 20 votes of the Pennsylvania Electoral College.
Trump activists waved flags and carried signs that read, “Voting stops on Election Day” and “Sorry, polls are closed” as Biden supporters danced to music behind one barricade to the other. side of the street.
Late Thursday, Philadelphia police said they were investigating an alleged plot to attack the city’s Pennsylvania Convention Center, where votes were being counted.
The police detained at least one man and seized a weapon. No injuries were reported.
In Atlanta, about 100 chanting Trump supporters gathered outside State Farm Arena as the votes were counted. Several Atlanta police officers monitored the scene.
Tom Haas, 50, who said he was visiting Atlanta from Chicago on business, said he was convinced Trump had won the election.
“There is obvious electoral fraud, and it comes from the larger cities run by the Democrats,” he said. “Atlanta is one of them.”
Trump supporters in Wisconsin, where Biden has been declared the winner by a very narrow margin
“Our democracy is under attack,” he said, echoing Trump’s language.
A few dozen Trump supporters gathered outside the Detroit convention center Thursday morning as poll workers counted absentee ballots inside.
The protesters held signs that read “stop the theft” and “stop the deception.”
In Las Vegas, about 100 supporters of the president chanted as they stood on the street in front of the polls.
In Milwaukee, about 50 Trump supporters gathered outside a city building where votes were being counted, playing country music, waving flags and carrying signs reading “count” and “rigged.”
About a dozen counter-protesters arrived after an hour, shouting “Black lives matter” and “saying their names,” in reference to the victims of police brutality.
Others threw eggs at Trump supporters from a passing car.
“The future of my country is what brings me here tonight,” said Mitchell Landgraf, a 21-year-old construction worker who cast his first vote in a presidential election for President Trump. “I’m afraid if it goes one way, this country will go downhill fast.”
The Trump campaign has called for a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden has been declared the winner by a very narrow margin.
