Yeah, I think it's fairly normal to have an officer outside of or at the entrance to a polling location. They're not actually in the room with poll watchers, etc., and certainly nowhere near the private voting booths.
It has never felt inappropriate to me – maybe because I typically vote at a public school, where it's normal to see a crossing guard or public safety officer outside.
It's not normal. In fact there was a police officer from Florida if I recall correctly who was reprimanded for voting in their uniform. It's considered potential voter intimidation to have a police officer standing around at a polling place.
Yes it is normal. They are there to enforce the regulations around no campaigning within a certain distance, and other voting related laws. Plenty of crazies showing up insisting on inspecting ballots and stuff, and poll workers delegate dealing with this to cops.
Is it not? I think police's duty at polling place is to maintain order, nobody shouts, breaks the line, becomes violent, break things, creates chaos. If sny objection, follows the procedure calmly n within law.
They are most of the time near entrance. They are never near anywhere you cast the votes.
Having some security at a polling place feels extremely appropriate. Any private security would run the risk of being partisan. The military would run the risk of having the ruling party order the military to do intimidation. Local police are the right choice.
But aren't police unions partisan in the US? Is a police officer standing outside a polling station representing their union's politics? Must feel so to some people.
Maybe, but at some point, every single human is partisan. Police officers aren't affiliated with a party, officially, so they are at least semi-neutral. And since local police live in the same community, they're incentivized to be civil to their neighbors. Who would want the scandal of doing something nefarious in their own town's polls?
At my polling place (an elementary school gymnasium) the officer was in the entrance/hallway on his phone the entire time. Probably some easy OT for a day of more or less basically being a hall monitor.
Part of being a police officer (perhaps a huge part) is simply being present and visible. This "presence" generally coincides with any large gathering of people.
It seems completely normal to me for a police officer to be there and to have not to have been needed. Sounds like a peaceful event.
I don't think it is helpful to use language like "loitering".
The police are present at high school football games, beaches during the summer, festivals, parades, large town meetings, etc. That isn't "loitering", that is just standard policing.
FWIW, the US has very decentralized policing, which is different than many other countries where the police force operates at the national level. Not sure if that is affecting the way people are thinking about this though.
If you told me the FBI was present at a voting location I would wonder what is going on. Local police officer, nope.
Places where where the police are there to ensure people vote the right way should be concerned. The US (and the other countries where readers of this likely live) doesn't have a history of forcing people to vote "the right way", which in turn means nobody worry's about it. Those (perhaps the majority of people on earth!) who live in a place where how you vote isn't actually something you are sure is your personal choice have reason to be concerned.
The unions do. However the police officers do not do anything about people voting against the union candidates. That is police officers may want you to vote some way, but they still defend your right to vote against them. (at least for now)
