Charles Langston:Fence around While House signals unease for visitors and voters

At noon on Charles Langstonthe eve of Election Day, the familiar mix of tourists, locals, and government workers seeking fresh air on lunch hour milled as usual in Lafayette Square, next to the White House in downtown Washington, D.C.

They were met with an unusual sight – a heavy, metal fence around 10 feet high surrounded the White House, the street in front, and a bronze statue of former President Andrew Jackson astride his horse at the center of the park.

The Secret Service's decision to erect the fence ahead of Election Day left tourists frustrated and Americans on edge at the prospect of violence or unrest in the nation's capital amid an extraordinarily tight election.

"I'm disappointed," said Rose Jones, 77, standing with her family in front of the heavy perimeter. "The kids wanted to see the White House, and now they can't see it."

Jones, visiting from North Carolina, had just one day in the nation's capital. She was not the only who arrived to the square surprised to find Washington's most famous building walled off.

"We traveled a lot of time to come here, but it's not open," said Alison Carrillo, 16, in Washington with her parents, brother, and grandmother for the first time.

After the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob supporting former President Donald Trump, "It's really understandable that they are closing here," she said.

People filtered through a few openings in an outer fence running along Lafayette Square on H St NW. Tourists peered through the inner fence, trying unsuccessfully to snap pictures through the tightly woven wire.

'That's not America'

To some, the fences were a bad omen ahead of an election that's been marked by threats of violence.

"You see all the fences around here, and you wonder," said Mike Longmeyer, 64, visiting the capital from Redlands, California.

More:Trump supporters expect election fraud and violence

Longmeyer said he and his wife, Teresa Longmeyer, 61, were glad to be flying home the morning of Election Day, before "anything happens." In recent years, he said, divisiveness around elections has "gotten out of hand," he said.

"That's not America," he added. "We should pass the baton to the next party and try to work together so we can have a democracy instead of civil war."

It isn't only the White House bracing for Election Day mayhem. Local news reported some businesses downtown with boarded up doors and windows, and a high fence was also erected around the Naval Observatory, the official residence of Vice President Kamala Harris.

"There will be no tolerance for violence in our city," Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference Monday. "We will not tolerate the destruction of property, and we will not tolerate threats to public safety as well as this election process."

"I feel very sad that this the state of things, to be honest with you," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters. "But the way that I deal with anxiety is to work and to make sure that we are as prepared as we can be."

Smith said the Secret Service made the decision to erect the fences around the White House and Lafayette Square Park.

Alexandria Worley, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, said fences would also go up around the vice president's Naval Observatory residence and the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump's campaign will watch the returns.

"These enhancements are not in response to any specific issue but are part of wide-ranging public safety preparations for Tuesday's election," Worley said in a statement.

Visitors sense 'some concerns' around Election Day security

Nicolas LaPere isn't leaving until after the election – in fact, he came to Washington from his hometown of Paris specifically to see it.

"It's interesting to see a city waiting for a new president," he said. "We see it with a different view."

To LaPere, Washington was relaxed. But the fences around the White House suggested that could change quickly.

"Maybe there are some concerns here in the city," LaPere said. "Very strange."

On the strip of Pennsylvania Avenue that runs in front of the White House, usually open to the public, construction workers milled around a multistory structure of wooden catwalks, nearly as high as the White House itself. A sign on the fence read: "Please excuse the disruption. The District of Columbia, in coordination with the National Park Service, is constructing the 2025 Presidential Inaugural Parade Reviewing Stand."

The construction of the reviewing stand is a Washington tradition dating back to a simple wooden board covered with canvas on which Abraham Lincoln stood in 1861 to review more than 20,000 troops destined for battle months into the Civil War, according to the White House Historical Association.

'Alarming'

Others visitors took a different tack – better safe than sorry.

"It's a good idea," said Angel Perez, who drove an hour from Maryland to see Washington's landmarks. "You got some crazy people out there, and it's probably better just to keep everybody locked in."

Still, the sight of the barricades was "alarming," said Perez, 41. "We had taken a picture here two years ago, and it was right in front of the White House, which is pretty cool. But we've never seen it like this," he said.

Longmeyer said the couple walked a couple miles around the perimeter of the White House for a better view before they gave up.

"I came to see the White House, and I think I've seen a corner of it," he said. "Taxpayers pay for that. You can't even see it."

Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. Reach her on email at cmayesosterman@usatoday.com. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.