Veterans of civil rights groups are among those intended to safeguard polling places against voter intimidation in several states during November’s midterm elections.
The elections are critical as they may upset the balance of power in Congress. Some Democrats have expressed concerns that President Donald Trump’s administration could use troops or other instruments of the federal government—like U.S. Immigration and Customes Enforcement, or ICE, agents—to intimidate voters and interfere in the results of the elections.
Republican lawmakers have pushed legislation in Congress like the SAVE Act to, as they claim, protect the electoral process from non-citizen votes that could impact certain races and lead to legal challenges after the fact.
The Save America Movement, the Rev. Al Sharpoton’s National Action Network and the American Federation of Teachers union said on Wednesday that they will deploy clergy members, veterans and community leaders to polls in key swing states including Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio.
The Save America Movement, through its program Vote Safe, said it will train volunteers on de-escalation tactics and voter ID laws. They will base themselves in precincts in Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland and Detroit, home to large populations of minority voters who they fear could be intimidated.
“Black Americans have faced intimidation at the ballot box for generations, and we did not march, bleed and die for the right to vote only to see fear used as a weapon against us again,” Sharpton said in a statement on Wednesday.
“No voter should have to wonder whether exercising their constitutional right will put them at risk,” he added. “If anyone thinks the presence or threat of federal agents will frighten our communities away from the polls, they are badly mistaken.”
General: No Plan to Send Troops to Polls
Despite civil rights groups’ fears, the top U.S. general has said there are no plans to send troops to the polls.
“The Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections,” Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a letter to Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin on Monday.
“I have neither received nor anticipate receiving any unlawful order concerning the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November 2026 midterm elections,” he added.
Slotkin also reportedly sent the same letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which garnered no response.
Federal law prohibits deploying armed federal forces to election locations unless “necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier this year that she could not “guarantee that an ICE agent won’t be around a polling location in November.
However, she added that President Donald Trump had no plans to use homeland security agents in this manner.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at a news conference on Tuesday that ICE agents are not meant to patrol polling locations, but included a caveat that they may be present if they are serving a warrant or responding to a threat.
The Department of Justice has said it will send 1,000 poll watchers to the polls.
Many veterans are also running in the upcoming midterm elections. According to veterans advocacy group With Honor, 752 veterans have registered to run for the House and Senate this year—the highest number they have recorded since they started tracking this data in 2018.
The elections will take place on Nov. 3.
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