The governor of the US state of Washington has declared a partial alert of the National Guard following recent incidents of election violence, mainly the burning of a ballot box full of ballots deposited during the early voting period for the White House elections on November 5.
The state, which shares its name with the capital, at the other end of the country, was the scene of the burning of this ballot box in the middle of the street in the city of Vancouver earlier this week. A similar incident occurred in Portland, in the neighbouring state of Oregon.
For this reason, the Democratic governor of the state, Jay Inslee, has decided to activate the National Guard “in response to the situation described and the potential for more violence and illegal activity.”
“The Washington National Guard will support local law enforcement and the Washington State Patrol as needed (…) to protect vital infrastructure related to the conduct of free and fair elections and to respond to any disturbances related to the 2024 general election,” the governor’s office said in a statement.
Although the office stresses that “this is purely a precautionary measure,” the order implies that the National Guard will remain “active and awaiting orders” from this coming Monday until midnight on Thursday, Election Day, Friday.
