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SALT LAKE CITY — Officials with the Utah Department of Public Safety said they're monitoring Election Day very closely when it comes to security involving physical and cyber threats.
"It's one of the top events," said Captain Tanner Jensen, director of the Statewide Information and Analysis Center.
On Monday, Jensen said they know of no credible threats right now.
"We think that we will have a very safe election night and week, but there is definitely planning and preparation with law enforcement, at the federal, state and local level," he said.
Jensen said the biggest thing people can do is be the eyes and ears for officers.
"If you do see something say something. This could be some type of tampering with the elections. It could be demonstrations that are not following safety measures," he said.
Across the country, preparations are underway in major cities, just in case things should get out of hand. Many businesses are boarding up their windows.
"Nationally, there has been a lot of concern," Jensen said. However, he said local concern for violence is not as troubling.
Here in Utah, KSL did find some businesses doing the same thing, like Nordstrom's location at City Creek.
Jensen believed demonstrations will take place this week, but he believes they will be peaceful.
"We will do everything we can as law enforcement to make sure that these demonstrations are safe and they can get their voice heard," said Jensen.
2020 Election
Increased mail-in voting, COVID-19, and a variety of state-by-state election formats contribute to a unique 2020 election. As a result, it is likely that many close House and Senate races, as well as the presidency, will not be called on Nov. 3.
States may also shift in outcome in the days or weeks following the election — an expected change experts have warned about as results are returned. While human error happens, both mail-in and in-person voting have extremely low rates of fraud.
The state of Utah has used vote-by-mail since 2012. It has safeguards in place to make sure every ballot it receives is legitimate.
