For the vast majority of the 40 million Americans who have already voted in the midterm elections, the process was smooth and unremarkable.

But the broad view belies signs of strain: A court ordered armed activists to stop patrolling drop boxes in Arizona.

Tens of thousands of voter registrations are being challenged in Georgia. Voting rights groups have trained volunteers in de-escalation methods. Voters have been videotaped by groups hunting for fraud as they drop off their ballots.

And Republican candidates across the country, from Arizona to Pennsylvania, continue to amplify Donald J. Trump’s false claims of corrupted elections.

Two years after a presidential election warped by lies and disrupted by violence, suspicion and fear have become embedded in the mechanics of American democracy.

As another Election Day nears, intimidation has crept up to levels not seen for decades, while self-appointed watchdogs search for fraud and monitor the vote.

And election officials say they feel increasingly on edge, ready not just for the frenzy of Election Day but the chaos of misinformation and disputes that may follow.

Even Republican election officials said they were braced for a renewed onslaught, one most likely to be fuelled by their own party.

“I’ve felt like I’ve been stabbed in the back repeatedly so much that I don’t have anything but scar tissue,” saidClint Hickman, a Republican on the county board of supervisors in Maricopa County, Arizona, home to Phoenix.

Like some other election offices, the Maricopa election office has beefed up its security in preparation for Tuesday.

After being a target of Right-wing protests in 2020, the building has been fortified with a new metal perimeter fence.

Though the early voting has been largely uneventful, many experts and officials are braced for disruption after polls have closed, when activists and lawyers are prepared to challenge ballots and dispute counting procedures, and losing candidates who have cast doubt on the integrity of the process may file lawsuits.

New York Times News Service