With 12 days to go until the election, voters have a bevy of concerns, from fears of rigging to angry voters lashing out. But some polling places are concerned for people who can’t cast votes at all: their students.
Schools are popular locations to set up polling places, thanks to their large capacities for parking and people. But school districts from Pennsylvania to Nebraska are canceling classes on Election Day, citing concerns about student safety during an election season with heightened tensions.
“With the candidates this year, it's obviously a little more heated," Sara Andrioitis, an Easton, Pa. mother of two, told NBC News. After she and other parents intervened, her children’s school district canceled classes on Nov. 8 because of worries that violence might occur.
A USA Today/Suffolk University poll found that slightly more than half of likely voters are at least somewhat worried that violence might occur during Election Day, though about 75 percent say they expect power will eventually be handed over to the next president peacefully.
Other school districts simply cited a more efficient experience for voters as justification for canceling classes.
“There’s going to be a lot of people coming in and out of the buildings throughout the day as they show up to vote,” Jeff Graham, superintendent of Ohio's Lorain City School District, told USA Today. The board voted back in August to not hold classes on Election Day. “We want to ensure a smooth experience for everyone concerned. We felt it would be best for our students and community.”
But district spokeswoman Erin Gadd did concede to the paper that the tensions of campaign “did inform the decision.”
School districts in Maine, Illinois, New Jersey, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin have also joined in when it comes to halting classes for the day. According to the Associated Press, some schools have asked that polling places be removed from their schools altogether.
But some also attributed the increased security risks not just to this election, but to modern life.
“There is a concern, just like at a concert, sporting event or other public gathering, that we didn't have 15 or 20 years ago,” Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp told Fox News. “What if someone walks in a polling location with a backpack bomb or something? ... If that happens at a school, then that's certainly concerning.”