Businesses across the Bay Area have boarded up their windows in preparation for possible unrest after Tuesday’s election.
Boarded up windows can be seen throughout downtown San Francisco, and the city’s police department will have extra officers working Tuesday night in the event things turn violent.
Claremont McKenna College Government Professor Jack Pitney said it’s hard to think of another national election that has triggered such concern.
“We’ve had close elections in the past,” he told KCBS Radio. “Obviously, the 2000 election was highly controversial, but nothing comparable to what people are worried about today.”
No matter how things turn out, Pitney said the winner of the election needs to cool down their rhetoric.
“There’s no simple solution to this, but at least the winner of the election can avoid making things worse,” he noted.
While bitter partisanship is gripping the country, UC Davis Communications Professor Magdalena Wojcieszak said some of these fears of unrest could be the result of media hype.
“Our focus as researchers, as journalists, as media organizations on the possibility of violence is creating this reality,” she said.
Nonetheless, a lot of Bay Area businesses will be ready, just in case.
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