Democrats are gearing up to fight back against what they see as potential voter intimidation on the part of Republicans ahead of this year’s midterm elections. State parties announced Monday that they are launching an initiative called the “New Battlefield Project,” intended to recruit 10,000 volunteers to monitor polling places in case of federal interference.
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The nationwide project will help statewide Democratic committees build a team of volunteers to guard the polls, encourage voters to cast their ballots before election day and mobilize a network to counter disinformation.
The efforts are in response to concerns that President Donald Trump could send federal agents to polling places under the guise of investigating noncitizen voting or voting fraud – one of several actions Democrats say his administration has taken to interfere with November’s midterm elections.
“We’ve seen a lot of increased rhetoric and threats coming directly from President Trump,” Jane Kleeb, chairperson of the Association of State Democratic Committees and the Nebraska Democratic Party says. “We don’t want to wake up on the next day after Election Day and wonder if we could have done more. So we’re taking an approach as Democrats where we want to be more on the offense and plan to look at worst case scenarios that could happen.”
Here is what to know about the New Battlefield Project.
What Is the New Battlefield Project?
The project – launched by the Association of State Democratic Committees, a branch of the Democratic National Committee – is three-pronged. It plans to train volunteers across the country and the U.S. territories, with the goal of staffing 25% of the nation’s roughly 95,000 polling locations, targeting battleground states and competitive races.
The volunteers will take a one-hour online training, according to Kleeb.
“We give them very specific training on how to document incidents, on how to de-escalate if things get heated. And kind of the added piece to that is how do you help people with their voting?” Kleeb says.
On Election Day, the volunteers will wear blue vests so they’re easily identifiable at the polls and can provide assistance if a voter feels that someone is attempting to challenge or intimidate them.
Volunteers will be trained to respond to voters’ needs, according to Kleeb.
They are meant to bring a happy disposition to Election Day, with duties that include helping voters find polling locations or informing them about alternative voting options, including provisional ballots.
The campaign also plans to run ads encouraging voters to cast ballots early in person or by mail. While the DNC typically advertises during election season, these will directly focus on early voting.
The third piece of the initiative is to build a network to identify and eliminate threats to the election process, including disinformation, artificial intelligence-generated manipulation and dark money. The volunteers are a crucial part of the network, serving as eyes and ears on the ground in case of voter interference.
Why Are Democrats Launching the Initiative?
The Trump administration has taken several steps that Democrats believe attempt to alter federal voting rules and interfere with November’s midterm elections. The administration tried to issue an executive order requiring proof of citizenship during voter registration and sought to restrict mail-in voting procedures through the U.S. Postal Service.
Public officials raised the possibility of sending immigration agents to the polls to check for noncitizen voters. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin shut down that idea at a Sept. 1 press conference.
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“ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places,” Mullin said. “We’re there to enforce specific threats. The only reason why we would be at polling places is if there is a threat to that polling place or we’re serving a warrant on someone that we have been actively tracking down.”
Critics and advocacy groups have raised concern over potential voter intimidation.
Most recently, during the Republican Party’s midterm convention hosted in Dallas last week, Trump promised a $5,000 payment – which he dubbed “Trump dividends” – to citizens if Republicans kept control of Congress in the midterms. Vice President JD Vance later said the money would come from tariff revenue, although experts have questioned the plan’s roughly $1 trillion cost and the legality behind it. Under federal law, it is illegal to give payments that are intended to influence the way a person is voting.
Vance cast the Democrats as the “party of hatred” as Republicans threw barbs at their opponents throughout the convention. During a speech by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, crowd members repeatedly called for sitting Senate candidates to be shot.
“We’re not going to let the Republicans intimidate us,” Kleeb says. “Whether that’s the kind of changes they’re trying to make in vote by mail or the rhetoric they’re using on stage at their midterm convention, we’re going to continue to stay focused.”
Will It Work?
The impact of the project remains uncertain. While it could provide clear assistance to voters who may face challenges or confusion at the polls, training and coordinating volunteers is no small feat.
There is also a risk of escalating tensions around the blue-vested volunteers, especially since the Republicans have their own poll-watching operation. Ally Triolo, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee said the RNC has already recruited a record number of poll watchers.
“The RNC has spent this entire cycle preparing not just to defy history in November, but to protect it,” Triolo told PBS. “We’ve built the largest election integrity operation in Republican Party history because our mission is simple: secure every legal vote and ensure Americans can trust the outcome of our elections.”
Kleeb is aware of the opposing force that may appear at the polls but is confident that the volunteers will be able to help.
“We are concerned that there might be high tensions,” Kleeb says. “We know that we can train folks to de-escalate situations.”
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