By Scott Ott for ScrappleFace

Law enforcement agencies nationwide have gone on high alert, canceling officers’ vacations in advance of Tuesday’s election, after Homeland Security officials picked up “chatter” indicating that if Barack Obama loses to John McCain, pollsters may take to the streets in violent protest.

“This time it’s personal,” said an anonymous pollster who refused to name his company. “Barack Obama is one of our own. He’s a guy who determines reality by asking others what they think, and never says what he really believes. He’s a brother, and it’s our time.”

In addition to kinship ties with Sen. Obama, pollsters say they have a financial stake in the election which depends upon the accomplishment of predetermined benchmarks.

The source said: “If anything happens to undermine our months of hard work — any kind of maverick stuff in the privacy of the voting booth — then President McCain will have blood on his hands.”