Washington, D.C. — Haunted by memories of street violence after the 2020 election, D.C. businesses have boarded up windows and are advancing security measures in anticipation of the presidential election Tuesday.
Property managers have decided it is “cheaper” to board up windows than to risk the chance of broken glass and looting sprees, one small-business employee across the street from the White House told National Review. Although many commercial buildings near the White House were boarded up as of Monday afternoon, most were not. Building owners, however, have crews on standby, ready to board up businesses starting Monday evening.
Police have maintained a heavy presence in downtown D.C., and the Secret Service has erected eight-foot-tall metal fences around the White House and Treasury Department, near parts of Lafayette Square, and outside of the Naval Observatory grounds and Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence. Street closures and enhanced security measures will also be present near Howard University, where Harris will host an election-night party.
Although D.C. authorities have said there is “no need for alarm,” business owners who remember the election-related riots that swept downtown D.C. in 2020-21 are concerned, even though they’re “not expecting full-fledged pandemonium like we saw after Jan. 6, or four years ago,” the Vice President of Government Affairs for the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington, Eric J. Jones, told the Washington Post.
“Honestly, it’s just fear,” Jones said. “I’m getting constant emails and text messages because people are really engaged. . . . People would rather be overprepared and have nothing happen, as opposed to the alternative.”
D.C. police estimate that rioters cost businesses around $100,000 in damages across 16 blocks during Inauguration Day protests in 2017. Riots related to the death of George Floyd and the results of the 2020 presidential election caused hundreds of thousands of dollars more in damages to downtown D.C. businesses.
Private security guards are also gearing up for Tuesday. Leon A. Beresford, the executive vice president of Admiral Security Services, said that the company would dispatch 2,000 private security officers to be ready to work shifts at buildings around the White House, near K Street NW, as well as Pennsylvania Avenue NW. D.C. will dispatch all available 3,300 police officers “to ensure we have enough officers on the street and in every corner of the District,” Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said last week.
Despite heightened security in the area, many businesses will stay open on Election Day and throughout the rest of the week.