Law enforcement statewide is bracing for Election Day

Laura Esposito / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Public safety officials in Pittsburgh and across Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, are preparing for the threat of political violence in the leadup to next week’s presidential election battle between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Effective Monday, Pittsburgh police leaders will be able to extend officers’ shifts at their discretion to ensure maximum coverage of the city and polling sites, public safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said Tuesday.

“It should be noted that the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police balances the protection of First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful assembly while also preserving public safety,” she wrote in a statement. “Civil unrest and violence will not be tolerated.”

In separate statements, Pittsburgh police, Allegheny County police and Pennsylvania State police said no reports of election-related threats have been received in the city or commonwealth as of Tuesday.

Ms. Cruz said police are working closely with Pittsburgh fire, EMS and Homeland Security to “monitor the situation.”

State and county police are also working to ensure voters can cast their ballots safely next week.

James Madalinsky, a spokesperson for county police, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the department has already stationed officers at ballot return sites throughout the county. Officers also will be on-site at the county election warehouse on the North Side on Election Day.

State police, who provide full- or part-time police service to over 1,700 municipalities in Pennsylvania, have not responded to “any major safety incidents or coordinated efforts to disrupt the election” throughout the previous two election cycles, according to a statement.

Still, the nearly 5,000 troopers statewide are proactively prepared to “execute a smooth, safe Election Day where Pennsylvanians can visit their local polling places, run by local officials from both parties,” Myles Snyder, a spokesperson for state police, wrote in an email.

Troopers are an integral part of Gov Josh. Shapiro’s Pennsylvania Election Task Force, established in February to “protect democracy and ensure safe, secure elections.”

Led by Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, the task force is made up of federal, state, and local law enforcement and election administration partners who coordinate plans to mitigate threats to the election process, protect voters from intimidation and “provide voters with accurate, trusted election information.”

After a botched assassination attempt on Trump at the Butler Farm Show grounds in July left one person dead, two injured and the former president slightly wounded, fear of the potential for more violence has been heightened across the Keystone state. Several voting advocacy organizations pulled their canvassers from the streets and halted operations throughout the summer.

Across the country, Americans are becoming increasingly desensitized to acts of political violence — in some cases, even normalizing the acts.

An April PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll shows that a fifth of U.S. adults believe Americans may have to resort to violence to get their country back on track.

Another poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows American voters are approaching the presidential election with deep unease about what could follow, including the potential for political violence. It found about 4 in 10 registered voters are “extremely” or “very” concerned about violent attempts to overturn the results after the November election.