By HANNAH SIEVERT
CENTRAL OREGON DAILY NEWS
Tensions are high in some battleground states where the results of the presidential race will be determined.
In Philadelphia, President Trump supporters and Joe Biden supporters had to be separated by barricades.
Some election officials have said they are worried about the safety of their voting center staff and volunteers.
Sharon Weldin, a Redmond resident, said she never felt unsafe while counting ballots for the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office on Election Day.
Weldin hopes officials in other states can protect the volunteers who are just like her.
“They are giving up their time to ensure that the process is safe and secure and that they are counted properly,” Weldin said.
Weldin said she trusts the voting process even more after she got to see how the clerk’s office handles ballots.
“It helped me to validate that the election process does work, that it is safe, it is secure,” Weldin said.
Deschutes County Clerk Nancy Blankenship said they had barely any people dispute or protest election results in Bend.
“I don’t think statewide you see that compared to other states, and I think it’s the processes we have in place,” Blankenship said. “Also, we are not a focal point right now of the election.”
