Voters worried of possible violence if Hillary Clinton wins

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. PHOTO: AFP

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is yet to publicly declare if he will concede defeat should he lose in today's election.

Mr Trump's unpredictable stand, coupled with some of his supporters' threats to challenge the poll outcome if Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton wins, may spark violence.

To compound the matter further, Republicans enjoy a majority in Congress. The latter is seen as compromised considering the Senate refused to confirm President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland as a live US Supreme Court judge.

There has been a US intelligence report warning of a possible planned Al Qaeda attack targeting New York, Texas and Virginia, with no specific locations mentioned. The report warned that the attack may take place on election eve or day.

This year's bizarre presidential race has been characterised by personal attacks as opposed to real issues of foreign and domestic policies, raising the possibility of violence.

"This presidential campaign has taken a racist line. I am really worried about the outcome of these polls; they might lead to violence. I have voted for Hillary and I hope she wins and Trump accepts the result," said Shantel Williams, an absentee voter at Hampton voting centre.

Senator Mamie Locke of Virginia State expressed her fears too, saying this was a problematic matter for voters.

DIFFERENT ANIMAL

"Trump is a different animal; his behaviour is out of this world. This instills fear in us that something extraordinary or unfortunate like violence might precede the polls," the senator said.

She faulted Trump's style of politics, saying he had never worked in government or the military and therefore may not understand the impact of some of his utterances.

"He is embroiled in name calling. Al Gore and former President George Bush in 2000 had a small-margin difference in the elections but neither issued threats. Al Gore only challenged the polls after the election," Ms Locke said.

"Trump is making allegations of 'rigging' before the elections. It's either for him to use this to explain his loss (something happened) or he is spoiling for a showdown."

Lavon Marrow, a Democrat volunteer, shared the same concerns, saying voters were opting for paper ballots as opposed to the electronic machine.

"We want an outright victory, one that will not be contested. The unity of the country is more important to us than courting violence," she said.

But the Trump team in Virginia downplayed any security concerns and instead exuded confidence that the billionaire would carry the day with a big margin.

Trump's team criticised the media for allegedly misleading the public that Trump would reject the results if he lost. But Trump is on record claiming there were plots to rig, citing the way the early voting exercise was undertaken in some swing states.

Jeff Ryer, the Republican organiser, has also defended party supporters, saying they are non-violent.

"We have trained our poll watchers and volunteers on how to conduct themselves on election day. There are things they can and cannot do. They have to stay 40 feet from the polling centre and even in incidents where things might be a little over-heated, they must maintain their cool," he said.

Clinton had complained about Trump's temperament, saying he was not a leader, but the Republican shot back saying the former First Lady belonged in jail.

The secret service whisked Trump away from a podium while he campaigned in Nevada following a gun scare and his supporters took to social media to condemn the incident. He later thanked the security officers for their swift action and vowed not to be cowed.

He wondered why some polling centres were still open and allowed early voting beyond the constitutional timeline of 5pm. Despite a lack of evidence, Trump insisted he would be "rigged" out.

Whatever the case may be, a crowd-sourcing mentoring software invented in Kenya - 'Ushahidi' (testimony) - is prepared to document the happenings.

Since Kenya has gone through this dark path of contested presidential elections before and with fears that the US might find itself in the same place, the software developers believe the technology will be useful in today's poll.

NAIROBI HEADQUARTERS

The organisation that developed the software will manage its 2016 US operations from its Nairobi headquarters through a team of 30 staff in eight countries, including the US.

It will track voting irregularities reported via website, email, Twitter and SMS and post accounts to an online interactive map.

"It's a citizen-inspired, citizen-led election deployment. While Ushahidi was used in the 2012 presidential election, namely for polling by the Obama campaign, there are unique factors in the 2016 race that warrant the company's attention," Ushahidi's Executive Director Daudi Were said.

"Ushahidi does election monitoring in 40 countries around the world," he added. "Ushahidi's interactive US link has specific reporting tabs for long lines, ballot issues, voter suppression or witnessing violence."

Political analyst Quentin Kidd has also rubbished any fears of a possible outbreak of violence, saying the majority of Trump supporters were elderly white Americans who might not be interested in doing so.

"These are more conservative voters compared to the liberal Democrats, majority of who are youths," he said.