Crews in downtown Columbus made preparations Monday for possible unrest Election Night and the days following.
Across from the , Joe Heilbrunn boarded up a pair of floor-to-ceiling windows on the Huntington Building.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just cutting them and then screwing it right into the mullions, and hopefully, it will keep people out," he said.
There are another half dozen workers from his company alone doing the same at other buildings downtown. It's an expensive precaution; Heilbrunn says all that plywood adds up quickly.
鈥淵ou鈥檇 have to think up around $10,000, $11,000 or something,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 mean we鈥檝e already鈥攋ust these three buildings鈥攚e鈥檝e already went through 200 sheets of plywood. We鈥檙e probably going to be close to 250 sheets.鈥�
Many, but certainly not all, downtown buildings are taking similar precautions ahead of Tuesday's contentious election.
At , the boards went up over the weekend. Manager Annetta Smith says she was in the restaurant when a brick came through the windows during this summer鈥檚 protests.
She says it took months to replace the windows once they were broken and doesn鈥檛 want to see that happen again. Still, Smith said it doesn鈥檛 make for a great view.
鈥淪ometimes you see weddings across the street. You can鈥檛 see the weddings. Some of our customers that come in here and eat, they鈥檙e not able to look outside,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o it can get a little depressing, a little dark in here.鈥�
Columbus Police say its planning additional patrols Tuesday and in the days to follow. Public information officer Sergeant James Fuqua says the department has teams ready to manage crowds if there are demonstrations, but he says the response won鈥檛 be like it was over the summer, when law enforcement forcefully confronted peaceful protesters downtown.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to be at Broad & High with riot gear or standing there with batons, like we鈥檙e not doing that," Fuqua said. "But we do have a group of specially trained officers to help facilitate any crowd management issues, either at a polling location or anywhere else out in public.鈥�
Fuqua also says officers responding to polling locations, should there be any issues, have received specialized training. When it comes to voter intimidation and the possibility of people openly carrying firearms near polling locations, Fuqua says the police are ready and able to handle those issues.
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