NEW YORK (AP) — Democrats and outside watchdogs are planning a massive turnout at the polls on Election Day, driven by fears that President Donald Trump will further tap the federal government’s vast resources to interfere with a midterm exam it could hamper his final two years in office.
They will not be the only ones present. A sprawling election protection effort on the left, expected to deploy tens of thousands of observers, will be met by the largest surveillance program ever carried out by the Ministry of Justice and even more observers from Republican-aligned groups. The outcome could be unlike anything seen in elections in modern times.
The effort by Democratic and nonprofit groups includes train volunteers monitor outside polling places and report activities they find concerning. The network includes traditional government watchdogs such as Common Cause and the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as a stream of volunteers assembled by state Democratic parties, congressional leaders, national activist groups and organizations focused on protecting democracy.
The Democratic National Committee created a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity unit, staffed by former CIA and FBI officials, to monitor and report online disinformation, including Artificial intelligence deepfakessaid Jane Kleeb, vice chair of the DNC.
That’s when Democratic mayors, attorneys general and secretaries of state hold tabletop exercises simulating worst-case scenarios, like a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at polling places or seizing ballot papers and voting materials.
On Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders have assembled a legal team that rivals that of any presidential campaign.
“We’ve never done this before,” Kleeb said of the party’s radical efforts. But “we’ve never had to hear the president of the United States say that he might seize ballots, station ICE agents outside polling places, and other kinds of very clear direct threats to the electoral process.”
The Department of Justice has already filed California lawsuit and Alaska that could affect the counting of ballots or certificate.
As Trump continues to make baseless allegations of cheating in the election, the administration and military officials said they had no intention of deploy immigration officers or troops to polling places.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis accused “radical Democrats” of stoking fears about election security by refusing to adopt voter ID requirements and other Republican-backed measures.
“President Trump has done more than any other president to ensure a free and fair election,” Bis said.
Tens of thousands of volunteers trained to observe
State Democratic parties have trained about 10,000 volunteers to observe polling locations and report anything potentially concerning from federal agents. Common Cause has trained about 16,000 additional volunteers to monitor polling places, said Suzanne Almeida, the group’s state vice president.
She said a broader election protection coalition, involving 300 other groups, had formed tens of thousands more.
Smaller groups of volunteers from other groups are also preparing to show up, including about 100 organized by Senate Democrats and hundreds more from a Democratic-allied group called Save America, which trains clergy, veterans, teachers and other local community members. National groups such as Indivisible and MoveOn are activating their own extended networks.
There are so many organizations working to protect the election process — many of which cannot legally coordinate — that some officials involved fear unintentionally creating chaos outside polling places.
Almeida said Election Day confusion is possible in some precincts, but the nature of the threat requires a collective effort.
“It will actually take real action from all of us if some of the threats that worry us most are realized,” she said.
The Trump administration sends its own team
Harmeet Dhillon, Trump appointee who heads the Justice Department Civil Rights Divisionwas asked on CBS’s “60 Minutes” whether the Republican administration was considering sending ICE agents to polling places.
“There are no plans to do that,” she replied.
The Justice Department is nonetheless planning its largest election monitoring effort ever, with about 1,000 department employees expected to observe voting and ensure compliance with federal laws, spokesperson Kiersten Pels said. This follows a primary season in which the department said it deployed more than 100 election observers to hundreds of polling locations.
At least one of these locations triggered tensions with local authorities. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, said the behavior of two observers during that state’s primary was “a little aggressive” and “irregular.” A Laramie County worker said Justice Department observers arrived at polling places intending to interview voters, but his office did not authorize it.
The department does not agree that the observers did anything improper, Pels said. She added that observers are trained to comply with federal law governing conduct at polling places and will not interfere with the voting process.
Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates have expressed concern that Trump administration observers could intimidate voters or abandon the duty they have had for decades to protect against civil rights violations.
The department plans to send them to every state, focusing on areas with large populations, jurisdictions that have had problems in the past and districts with close elections, according to a senior department official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under conditions set by the department.
The Republican National Committee said its operation involves deploying “deputy election integrity directors” to 22 states, including Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina.
These workers are the RNC’s “eyes and ears on the ground” who recruit volunteers and conduct training, said Ally Triolo, the RNC’s election integrity communications director. Their mission is to expose anything that appears illegal.
At the same time, the RNC has recruited nearly 22,000 poll workers and is recruiting volunteers to observe voting in competitive precincts. Poll observers “will observe the process and help ensure that election rules are followed in accordance with the law,” Triolo said.
Local elections officials prepare for increased attention
While federal observers have quietly observed elections for decades, largely without incident, some election officials are taking precautions.
Chris Swope, the city clerk of Lansing, Michigan, said he has preemptively contacted law enforcement and his attorney in case federal observers violate election law, even though he expects them to follow the rules.
The Democratic Mayors Association issued guidelines for local Democratic officials with detailed instructions on what to do if federal agents show up at polling places.
It notes that federal law prohibits the presence of federal immigration agents, FBI or other investigative personnel. He also reiterated that federal agents are not authorized to be armed at polling stations, interact with voters or handle ballots or election materials.
Justice Department officials said their observers would not be armed and would not interfere with the vote. Asked about sending department monitors to Georgia, Trump recently told a reporter, “They’re not going to do anything but monitor.”
Some survey observations have already begun. Mary Corcoran, executive director of Save America, said her group’s volunteers are monitoring precincts during early voting in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio to help give voters a sense of security.
“The problem is fear, and we need to do something about it,” she said. “Left unaddressed, fear causes people to stay home without a single agent setting foot in a polling station.”
___ Associated Press writers Jacqueline GaNun in Lansing, Michigan, Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington and Jessica Hill in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
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