US election: Texas calls in National Guard amid ‘voting day violence’ row

Democrats accuse Republican governor of seeking to deter voters by calling up troops

National Guard units on patrol near El Paso, Texas
(Image credit: Herika Martinez/Getty)

A political argument has broken out in Texas about the deployment of National Guard units to several of the state’s big cities in the run-up to next week’s election.

A senior officer said the “activation of troops would be for ‘post election’ support of local law enforcement”, the San Antonio Express-News reports. Soldiers will also be “guarding historical landmarks such as the Alamo and the State Capitol”, another officer said.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.