Capitol police and construction crews worked late into the night hours to establish safety precautions around Washington, D.C. in the days leading up to the presidential election on Nov. 4.
The Capitol Building, White House, Vice President’s residence and the Treasury Department were the top locations with heightened security.
“Definitely feels like a lot—a bit irritating at times just trying to like come back has to kind of like maneuver around—but at the same time I’m hearing a lot of dangerous things happening as well so definitely does help me feel more safe,” Howard University student, Lawson Bush, said.
Each of these locations had at least one layer of protective metal fencing around the perimeter. Some sites had barricades and others, like the White House, had a combination of several layers of barricades and fencing.
While former president Donald Trump was not present in D.C. for the election, there was still an increased security presence around his Mar-a-Lago golf club and barriers surrounding the Palm Beach County Convention Center in Florida.
Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ alma mater, Howard University, also received intense security measures in D.C. ahead of her appearance on election night.
“They’ve made checkpoints around the neighboring area just to make sure that students have safe passage as well as community members, and I know that for the most part they’ve kind of done checkpoints within the school just to make sure it’s safe for her party,” local resident Zeon Railey said.
Police cars and officers covered almost every street surrounding the university before the election. All officers worked a minimum of 12 hour shifts to achieve complete police coverage leading up to election night.
“It might be of inconvenience to community members who rely on Georgia Avenue or this neighboring area for work, for commerce, for their everyday living,” Railey said.
Despite the intense campus presence, students seemed to be willing to exchange the inconvenience for this unique opportunity.
“It’s definitely a monumental occasion—like all this is happening while I'm here? Wow, that’s crazy to me,” Bush said.
The Howard University website said classes would remain closed for a couple days. However, normal operations resumed on Nov. 8.