Troops called in to protect shops after election

National Guard troops have been ordered to five cities in Texas as shops and businesses across the US boarder up in anticipation of violence after next week’s election.

National Guard troops stand watch near a group of demonstrators at the Wauwatosa City Hall on October 09 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

National Guard troops have been ordered to five cities in Texas, and shops and businesses across the US are boarding up in anticipation of violence after next week’s election.

The 1000 troops will help police “to deter any civil disturbance” as counting takes place, said Major General James Brown, chief of staff for the National Guard’s commander.

Shops and businesses have ­already been boarded up in Washington and in cities where there was rioting and looting in the northern summer, among them Portland in Oregon and Chicago. “It is widely believed there will be civil unrest after the election ­regardless of who wins,” Washington police chief Peter Newsham said.

National Guardsmen are state forces deployed by governors but in extreme circumstances the president can call them out. ­Donald Trump has not yet done so, nor has he deployed regular US army soldiers on the streets. The Democrat-run states where protests took place after the killing of George Floyd in May were also loath to bring in the National Guard.

Police forces across the US are putting extra officers on standby. Chicago police superintendent David Brown said city officials had held four tabletop exercises “so we can have the best response regardless of whatever scenario happens on election day”.

The scenarios ranged from bad weather to large protests and gatherings that could include “embedded agitators that might loot or cause violence or ­destroy property”. “We are all in conversations with our counterparts across the country about what we might ­expect,” he said.

“But everything is uncertain. And so we’re trying as best we can to anticipate any hazard that might happen.”

New York will have police stationed at 1200 polling stations, with hundreds more “at the ready”. Election officials in Michigan have announced a ban on the open carrying of guns at or near polls on election day.

The Supreme Court ruled that postal votes would count in the swing state of Wisconsin only if they arrived before the close of polls at 8pm on Tuesday, in stark contrast to its decision last week to allow late postal votes in Pennsylvania to be counted for three days after November 3. It was a ­reminder that the presidential election is run by each state ­according to its own laws: in both cases the Supreme Court upheld the long-standing legal position in each state.

THE TIMES