Julia Musto
Fox NewsFri, 30 Oct 2020 00:00 UTC
© Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via APNational Guard, Minneapolis, MN
Amid worries about civil unrest and violence following the presidential election and possible shortages of poll workers on Nov. 3 itself,
more state leaders are considering deployment of the National Guard.Although the U.S. military is generally left out of the election process, polling locations attempting to manage impossibly long voting lines may not be in a position to turn away help from the Guard,
whose members would fill in as plainclothes poll workers or help to monitor cybersecurity.In key battleground states such as the Rust Belt's Wisconsin and the Sun Belt's Arizona,
governors have already announced they could or would activate the National Guard to help with security.
Wisconsin
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said Thursday that he would deploy around 400 members to compensate for poll worker shortages:
"The Wisconsin National Guard has played a critical role in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and this mission is no different. As Wisconsin faces an urgent crisis with more than 200,000 positive cases of COVID-19 across the state, the help of the Guard will be needed to ensure that Election Day goes smoothly and that voters and election officials alike have the assistance they need."
That same day,
Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey told ABC 15 he would not "hesitate" to send out the Guard should there be civil unrest.
Following the
police killing of a 27-year-old Black man, Walter Wallace Jr., on Friday,
Philadelphia Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney requested that the Pennsylvania National Guard help with the "current situation and election preparation."
The Guard in New Jersey is assisting election officials with balloting, Delaware and Washington state Guard personnel will provide election-related tech aid, and Tennessee's Guard is opening polling stations for rural communities,
according to The Associated Press.
In addition,
should any other state governors request them, the National Guard has designated military police units -- with hundreds of troops -- in both Alabama and Arizona that are ready to respond within 24 hours.
Conversely, many states say they have no plans to activate their Guard for the election in response to
concerns about voter intimidation.
Nebraska's adjutant general Maj. Gen. Daryl L. Bohac told reporters that governors are developing contingency plans -- though they could evolve on the evening of the election.
The National Guard can only be federalized under limited circumstances, though once federalized, the president can command personnel without a governor's permission.In addition, senior military leaders have said that they believe there is no role for active-duty or federalized National Guard in an election.
Comment: Danger Will Robinson: A Trump lead heading into election night may be the tipping point to
spur chaos and ignite violence across America. A Biden lead with violence will be blamed on Trump. Either way, be assured it will be 'Trump's fault'.
There is one much simpler scenario for election-night chaos, centering on a single address, that many analysts see as among the most plausible. The scenario can be averted, election officials say, by heightening public awareness about it - and by cautioning vigilance against carefully targeted lies that Donald Trump has already begun to tell.
Known as the "red mirage", the scenario could develop if Trump appears to be leading in the presidential race late on election night and declares victory before all the votes are counted.
"On election night, there's a real possibility that the data will show Republicans leading early, before all the votes are counted. Then they can pretend something sinister's going on when the counts change in Democrats' favor."
In the scenario, Trump's declaration of victory is echoed on the conservative TV network Fox News and by powerful Republicans across the US.
By the time final returns show that in fact Joe Biden has won the presidency, perhaps days later, the true election result has been dragged into a maelstrom of disinformation and chaos.
To some officials, the scenario is too realistic for words. The delay that officials know will be required to finish the counting could be enough time for Trump to sow doubt about the result, an effort the president has already begun.
Current and former Pennsylvania officials and activists say that the antidote to the "red mirage" is as simple as the scenario itself.
Philadelphia will not be able to report its election result on the night of 3 November. In turn, the surge of Democratic votes out of Philadelphia, when they do land, will probably create the perception of a huge swing in the state to Biden. And finally, that swing could well be large enough to erase a lead that Trump might build up in rural counties elsewhere in the state - to appear to turn Pennsylvania from "red" to "blue" - and to potentially decide the entire election. Tom Ridge said:
"All votes will not be counted by midnight on November 3. Because of Covid-19, there'll be millions of mail-in votes that it'll take several days to tally," Ridge said in a phone interview. One of the ways to reduce the anxiety level is to remind Americans of that reality, and call for peace and patience so that every vote can be counted."
The blood-curdling thing about the red-mirage scenario, for some analysts, is that some aspects of it look more like a certainty than a scenario.
"The key term is 'election week'," said Patrick Christmas, policy director of the non-partisan Committee of Seventy good government organization in Philadelphia. "There's no longer going to be an election day here."
As plausible as it is, however, there are also many reasons why a "red mirage" scenario might not unfold. Biden could put the race away with a win earlier on election night in a key battleground state such as Florida.
There is undoubtably an election day 'mirage', most telling in the speculations and fantasies above.
Comment: Danger Will Robinson: A Trump lead heading into election night may be the tipping point to spur chaos and ignite violence across America. A Biden lead with violence will be blamed on Trump. Either way, be assured it will be 'Trump's fault'. There is undoubtably an election day 'mirage', most telling in the speculations and fantasies above.