Democrats plan to train tens of thousands of volunteers across 57 states and territories to monitor polls in November's midterm elections. This initiative, called the New Battlefield Project, aims to counter potential voter intimidation by Donald Trump and his allies. Volunteers will be trained to assist voters and document any illegal activities at polling places, focusing on competitive districts. The project also includes a push for early voting to reduce risks on election day.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-14,
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Story summary
Democrats are preparing to train tens of thousands of volunteers as part of the New Battlefield Project to monitor polling places and counter voter intimidation ahead of November's US midterm elections. The project, an initiative by the Association of State Democratic Committees (ASDC) which is an arm of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), aims to cover 25% of the nation’s 95,000 election day polling places across all 57 states and territories, focusing on competitive districts. Volunteers will be trained to address disinformation and encourage early voting while wearing distinctive blue vests to provide a visible presence that counters voter intimidation, including potential interference from federal agents. The plan comes amid fears of interference from Donald Trump and his allies, who have called for the deployment of immigration agents to cities during the election period.
Written for “Election Interference Fears” on 2026-09-14,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
The Democrats intend to train tens of thousands of volunteers to monitor the polls and counter possible voter intimidation under a new plan to protect November’s US midterm elections from anticipated interference from Donald Trump and his allies.
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Democrats → intend → Trump
The nationwide initiative, dubbed the New Battlefield Project, will help state Democratic committees build up a vast coalition of volunteers to monitor the polls, push voters to cast their ballots early and create a network to respond to disinformation.
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committees → dub → disinformation
The Association of State Democratic Committees (ASDC), an arm of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), plans to train volunteers across 57 states and territories.
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Association → plan → states
It hopes to train volunteers for 25% of the nation’s 95,000 election day polling places, focusing on districts with competitive races.
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It → hop → races
These volunteers will wear blue vests to provide a visible presence intended to counter any voter intimidation, including by federal agents.
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volunteers → wear → agents
Each state party has a trained election protection director.
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party → have → director
The Trump administration has not explicitly ruled out sending federal agents to cities during the election, and some of the president’s allies have called on him to send immigration agents to the polls.
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some → rule → polls
The homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, previously said immigration agents’ job isn’t to patrol polling places, but they could go to polling places if there was a threat or to serve a warrant.
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they → say → warrant
The president has personally made a series of interventions that have fanned fears that he could meddle in the upcoming elections, and even declare a national emergency in a bid to exert greater control over the process.
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he → make → process
Jane Kleeb, the chair of the Nebraska Democratic party and president of the ASDC, said the project is much more extensive and coordinated than the party has been in the past on election protection.
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party → say → protection
“We didn’t want to be caught flat-footed on election day or leading up to election day,” she said.
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she → want → day
These volunteers will be trained to “be happy” and respond to any voter needs, including helping them find a polling location if they’re in the wrong place, or informing them they can cast provisional ballots if they need to, Kleeb said.
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Kleeb → train → ballots
They will also document whether others at the polls are hindering voters.
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others → document → voters
“We don’t know if there are going to be a bunch of insurrectionist types out there trying to intimidate voters, but we’re going to be there happy with information, but we’re also going to be there trained to document if the other side is doing things that are violating the law,” she said.
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she → know → law
The party will additionally push out its first national early-vote campaign, telling voters to “bank their vote” by casting ballots early by mail or in person.
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party → push → person
This will include ad campaigns focused on communities at risk of Republican election interference.
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This → include → interference
The state parties and the DNC typically run get-out-the-vote programs, but this year’s will include more explicit directions to voters – telling them to vote early, and not let a mail ballot sit on their kitchen counter for weeks before turning it in, Kleeb said.
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Kleeb → run → it
The party will also push for people to vote early in person.
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people → push → person
“We don’t know what Donald Trump is going to do.
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Trump → know → what
We’ve heard some of the things that he may do, but none of us can predict his behavior,” she said.
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she → hear → behavior
“He’s so chaotic.
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He → ’ → ?
All of us have witnessed certainly that.
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All → witness → that
So the earlier you can vote, the better.”
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you → vote → ?
The third part of the project will spin up a “democracy defense network”, led by Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg, designed to identify and counter tactics that can sway elections, including disinformation, dark money, manipulation via artificial intelligence and election subversion.
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that → spin → intelligence
The network will allow state parties to communicate with each other about these threats to share knowledge, with a goal to get ahead of such tactics before they gain traction.
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they → allow → traction
