Law enforcement on standby for polling places Election Day
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on November 7, 2016 9:57 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
As one of the most contentious presidential elections in the nation's history looms on the horizon, local law enforcement is on standby.
But there have not been any issues requiring law enforcement's presence yet.
There have not been any issues with voter intimidation or threats to date, authorities said, but police are keeping a passive eye on voting locations and are prepared to respond should anything go awry.
"Officers have been made aware that they should ride through the polling areas during early voting, but we have not had any official contact from the Board of Elections saying they need us there," Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West said.
West said early voting has gone on without incident, and has instructed his officers to simply keep an eye out for any change in the polling environment and react to it if need be, but officers are not being actively stationed at polling places.
"At this point it seems to be calm," West said.
Maj. Tom Effler with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office said deputies have historically worked alongside the Board of Elections to ensure a safe and honest election, free from voter intimidation and other mishaps.
"Nobody is posted there all the time because that could be considered voter intimidation, too," Effler said.
In the past, deputies have escorted ballots from polling places to the Board of Elections, but Wayne County Board of Elections Director Dane Beavers said that has not been necessary in several years.
"We've got 30 locations and we have several backup plans for election results in case there is an issue with transport," Beavers said.
Beavers echoed Effler's sentiments on having a perpetual law enforcement presence at the polls, and said officials try to avoid having law enforcement at the scene unless its absolutely necessary.
"We try to avoid having law enforcement present at any polling places unless absolutely necessary, because people tend to feel a little bit intimidated with law enforcement's presence," Beavers said.
Overall -- barring a few incidents with electioneers -- Beavers said early voting has been calm and he does not expect any issues on the day of the general election Tuesday.
"Going into this election I had concerns because of some of the rhetoric I was hearing in the media coming from supporters of candidates, but since then we are now into our last two days of early voting and it's been exceptionally calm," Beavers said.
Beavers said the Board of Elections has a security guard that's been there since early voting began, and he expects that is all that will be needed through the general election.
"The Sheriff (Larry Pierce) and I discussed it, and they're ready to provide any kind of services we may need," Beavers said.