WASHINGTON – Election officials are beefing up security and taking other precautions at many of the nation’s 200,000 polling places amid continuing concern that al-Qaida terrorists are intent on disrupting the U.S. political process.

Some officials are increasing police patrols and assigning plainclothes officers to monitor voting sites on Election Day. Others are taking steps to secure ballot boxes, set up emergency communications systems and locate backup polling places in the event of an attack.

“We have to prepare for the worst situation,” said Brenda Fisher, elections director for Anne Arundel County in Maryland.

FBI and Homeland Security Department officials stress that a steady stream of intelligence indicating the threat of an election-year threat is general in nature, with no specific indications that terrorists might strike polling places. But elections officials say they can’t discount the possibility that al-Qaida might be attracted to long lines of voters to make a violent statement against democracy.

Many say the March 11 terror attack on Madrid’s commuter trains, which killed 191 people, was a factor in the defeat of Spain’s then-ruling party in elections three days later.

At the same time, officials nationwide say a heavy law enforcement presence could frighten voters away from polls – the exact opposite of their utmost priority.

Michael Chitwood, police chief in Portland, Maine, said he recently gave a security briefing to local election wardens noting that the ringleader of the Sept. 11, 2001 hijack attacks, Mohamed Atta, started his deadly journey that morning at Portland’s airport.

“The audience was attentive. In some ways they were scared to death. But we had to make sure they knew the possibilities,” Chitwood said. “It’s voting in the post-9-11 world. There’s a new sense of vulnerability in our country whether it’s Manhattan or Portland, Maine.”