Securing the vote
From Jeanne Meserve
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The terrorist bombs in Madrid just days before elections are a factor in Chesterfield County, Virginia's, decision to station armed police at polling places on Election Day.
"I think we are doing what is prudent, and I think to do nothing is imprudent and irresponsible," says Chesterfield County Registrar Larry Haake.
But some say armed guards at polling places could be intimidating.
"This is a step back in Democracy in my opinion," says voter Hadi Yazdan Panah, of the Islamic Center of Virginia.
That sentiment is shared by some election officials elsewhere.
"This is not Nicaragua! This is not Equitorial Guinea, Africa! This is not El Salvador!" says New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron.
You won't find police at polling places in New Mexico, even, the secretary of state says, if there is a terrorist attack somewhere else.
Because states and localities run elections and to avoid appearing partisan, the federal government has not issued any security guidance. So each community is balancing security and civil liberties as it sees fit.
"There's no playbook for any of us to go by. We're making this up on the fly," says George Foresman of the National Governor's Association.
On September 11, terrorists hit Arlington, Virginia.
With that in mind, officials there have tried to find a middle ground.
Poll workers are being instructed on how to communicate in a crisis and police patrols will be increased, but officers will stay outside polling locations.
"We don't want to spend a lot of our energy preparing for something that is unnecessary and not going to happen, but on the other hand we want to have some contingencies in place," says Arlington County Registrar Linda Lindberg.
Homeland Security officials say there is no specific intelligence that terrorists plan to strike Election Day -- and some experts believe polling places would be difficult and ineffective targets.
"There is no way that a terrorist campaign can disrupt the elections in the United States. This is too big a country, too many voters, too many polling places," says the Heritage Foundation's James Carafano.
If terrorists do strike, election officials will have to improvise.
Congress could postpone the election, but has said it would not.
