Breaking News-Concerns of violence as election nears.

As election day nears the Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their San Francisco home is increasing concerns over political violence around the mid-terms.

Those concerns were further emphasized by the release of an internal bulletin within federal agencies_on the same day as Pelosi attack _warning of heightened threat from domestic violent extremists in the coming weeks.
While troubling indicators_such as growing support for political violence a rise against elected officials And election workers’ And the Jan.6 assault on the Capitol_have clearly signaled the path of the country’s political environment over the past two years’ many see the current election cycle as a crucial test of how much those factors will affect the practice of democracy in the United States.
So far’ no specific threats of targeted violence.

Why the internal bulletin warned federal agencies of the heightened threat period’ it identifed :lone offenders”as the most likely to commit violence’rather then organized extremist groups. It outlined a number of grievances that may motivate those actors’including debunked claims of widespread election fraud And polarizing social topics such as abortion And LGBTQ rights.
But the alert did not indicate the federal law enforcement is aware’ at the time’ of any specific plans for coordinated or targeted violence.

” It aligns very much with are own monitoring …that their is concerning activity’ concerning rhetoric out there'”said Shannon Hiller’ executive director of the Bridging Divides And Princeton University ‘ which works to track And mitigate political violence. “But we’re not concerned about safety And security on Election Day.”
Hiller said she remains confident that on Tuesday ‘ voters should be able to go to their polling places without fear.

If you look back to 2020 ‘ we saw very little violence around Election Day itself'”she said. There was lots of preparation And has been even more preparation by government ‘non-government groups to ensure that thas the case this year again.”

Still’ early voting in some places have been fraught. In Arizona some armed civilians in tactical gear showed up at ballot drop boxes’ ostensibly to monitor voters . The activities ‘ which promoted clams of voter intimation’ have been encouraged by Republicans across the country since 2020.
One of them is Mark Finchem’ The GOP nominee for Arizona secretary of state who has spread baseless claims of election fraud And who has encouraged his followers to monitor vote operations in their voters communities .

“You Are responsible for maintaining your election_not me’you!”Finchem said at a rally last year’ which began with those in attendance pledging allegiance to a flag that at the U.S.Capitol on Jan.6. “You need to be at the polls.You cannot leave this to someone else .”
Those “citizen oversight”efforts are expected to extend to in-person voting And vote-counting to,

Ronna McDaniel ‘ chair of the Republican National Committee said recently the RNC had trained more than 30’000 poll watchers ahead of this years midterms . And likewise’ election officials say they have seen an influx of poll workers And election monitors who think U.S. elections are stolen. Carly Koppes ‘the Republican clerk of weld county’ Cola., told Colorado Public Radio that all 35 poll watchers she approved for the states June primary had ties to election denial group.

They can present a complicated situation. On one hand’ having conspiracy-minded volunteers involved in the process can be a valuable chance to educate them on the way elections actually work. But Spencer Overton’ a voting expert at George Washington University’said it also can be a powder keg if those people are set in their beliefs that there is widespread fraud And they need to uncover it.

‘Its not about service And it is not about volunteering ;its about political activism And vindicating And a election from a couple years ago,”Overton said. Than can result in real conflict .”
Warnings of increased risk after Election Day.
Researchers say the Days following Election may pose a greater risk of violence then Election Day’ itself particularly in locations where vote counting drags on.