Business owners in Washington DC are bracing themselves for possible chaos in the wake of this week's Presidential election.
Voters across the US are set to go to the polls on November 5 in what is shaping up to be one of the tightest election races between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
Now, rings of fencing are surrounding the White House, the US Capitol building and Vice President Harris's residence.
Some businesses and property owners are preparing for the worst and reinforcing windows and entrances at street-level in case there's any looting or rioting.
Security fences have been erected outside the White House
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Businesses have been boarded up in the US capital
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Vice president of government affairs for the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington Eric J Jones told The Washington Post: "There is concern around the city. We're not expecting full-fledged pandemonium like we saw after January 6, or four years ago.
"Honestly, it's just fear...'I'm getting constant emails and text messages because people are really engaged. People would rather be over prepared and have nothing happen, as opposed to the alternative.
"At a time when we are trying to revitalise, especially our downtown core, what we don't want is destruction of property that discourages folks from coming back to the city, or that creates a situation where we are trying to rebuild those areas."
Asked about boarded up businesses, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said last week that "people have certain risk tolerances, and I don't think they should be boarding up their buildings, but we're not going to give them that advice."
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Bike racks erected outside the US Capitol
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Thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump assaulted the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his election loss, which he continues to claim was the result of fraud. Four people died on the day of the attack and one Capitol Police officer who fought against the rioters died the next day.
Washington's assistant city administrator Christopher Rodriguez told a city council briefing on election preparedness last week: "In many respects, our preparations for 2024 started on January 7 of 2021."
Former DC homicide detective tor Ted Williams, who has lived in the capital on and off for the past four decades, told Fox News that he has "never seen it as bad as it is now when it comes to whether there is going to be some attack of dissension during the inaugural [period] or presidential elections."
It is understood fencing will also be installed around the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the Trump campaign will host his election watch party, and some roads surrounding the centre will be closed.
Businesses on Pennsylvania Avenue are bracing for post election chaos
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Businesses have been boarded up in the US Capital
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According to a New York Times public poll tracker, all seven battleground states were in a virtual dead heat.
Trump held a narrow two-percentage-point lead in Arizona; the other six swing states were all within a point on average, the tracker showed.
The race appears even closer than the 2020 contest. That year, a shift of only 43,000 votes in three states, less than one-third of a percentage point of all voters nationwide, from Biden to Trump would have been enough for Trump to win re-election.
