[gwright]

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.

[chrisseaton]

Presumably-armed police loitering outside a democratic process even when there's nothing going wrong seems very strange to people outside the US.

[gwright]

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.

[chrisseaton]

> The police are present at high school football games, beaches during the summer

These aren't normal for a western democracy, if you were wondering.

[gwright]

I can't speak for "western democracy", just my experience in the US.

[bluGill]

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.

[chrisseaton]

I thought police unions in the US often explicitly declared support for particular candidates? That'd be unthinkable in most countries.

[bluGill]

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)