Businesses in downtown Indianapolis are boarding up again in anticipation of election night.

Early morning on Monday, people were hard at work putting plywood up on businesses in and around the Circle. Some businesses hired crews to do it. Others, like Windsor Jewelry on 16 N Meridian St, did it themselves.

“I can’t afford to take any chance, coming into the holidays, that anything could happen to my business,” said Greg Bires, the owner of Windsor Jewelry.

Well into the afternoon, Bires was outside his business, putting up plywood. Slowly but surely, Halloween displays that stood in his shop’s windows were covered up completely.

Bires says he’s doing it largely because, during the May protests, his store was entirely “decimated” — and he doesn’t want that to happen again.

“I was shut down from doing business for almost two weeks,” Bires said. “Really, it was a month and a half before I had the store put back in order again.”

Eventually, all the businesses on the Circle will be entirely boarded up. Regardless of the outcome, Bires still hopes for the best.

“I do not want to board up. I wish that downtown has a safe election day, but I just need to err on the side of caution,” said Bires. “Let’s just hope that nothing happens.”