Thousands of observers to descend on US polling places on Election Day, with Justice Department's largest-ever monitoring effort

Democrats and outside watchdogs in the United States are planning a massive presence at polling places on Election Day, driven by concerns that President Donald Trump will further leverage the vast resources of the federal government to interfere with a midterm election that could hobble his final two years in office.

They will not be the only ones there. A sprawling election protection effort on the left is expected to deploy tens of thousands of monitors, and it will be met by the largest-ever monitoring programme by the Justice Department and still more observers from Republican-aligned groups. The result could be unlike anything seen at the polls in modern times.

The effort among Democratic and nonprofit groups includes training volunteers to stand watch outside polling places and report activities they consider concerning. The network includes traditional government watchdogs such as Common Cause and the American Civil Liberties Union, plus volunteers assembled by state Democratic parties, congressional leaders, national activist groups and organisations focused on protecting democracy.

The Democratic National Committee has created a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity unit staffed by former CIA and FBI officials to monitor and report online misinformation, including artificial intelligence deepfakes, Jane Kleeb, vice chair of the DNC, said.

Kleeb said of the party's sweeping efforts: 'We've never done this before.' But, she said, 'we've never had to deal with the president of the United States saying that he may seize ballots, put ICE agents outside polling locations and other kinds of very clear direct threats to the voting process.'

At the same time, Democratic mayors, attorneys general and secretaries of state are hosting tabletop exercises simulating worst-case scenarios, such as a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at voting locations or the seizure of ballots and voting equipment. On Capitol Hill, Democratic leaders have assembled a legal team that rivals that of any presidential campaign.

The Department of Justice has already filed lawsuits in California and Alaska that could affect ballot counting or certification. While Trump continues to make baseless allegations of cheating in the election, administration and military officials have said they have no plans to deploy immigration agents or troops to polling sites. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis blamed 'radical Democrats' for creating fears about election security by refusing to enact voter ID requirements and other Republican-backed measures, and said: 'President Trump has done more than any other president to ensure we have free and fair elections.'

State Democratic parties have trained an estimated 10,000 volunteers to observe polling places and report anything potentially concerning they might see from federal agents. Common Cause has trained roughly 16,000 more volunteers to stand watch at voting precincts, said Suzanne Almeida, vice president of states for the group. She said a broader Election Protection coalition involving 300 other groups has trained tens of thousands more.

Smaller pockets of volunteers are also preparing: roughly 100 organised by Senate Democrats, and hundreds more from the Democratic-allied group Save America, which is training clergy members, veterans, teachers and other local community members. National groups such as Indivisible and MoveOn are activating their own expansive networks. With so many organisations working to protect the voting process — including many that cannot legally coordinate with each other — some officials worry about unintentionally creating chaos outside polling locations. Almeida said Election Day confusion is possible in some precincts, but the nature of the threat requires a collective effort.

The Justice Department is planning its largest-ever election monitoring effort, with about 1,000 department staff expected to observe voting and ensure federal laws are being followed, spokesperson Kiersten Pels said. That comes after a primary season in which the department said it deployed more than 100 election monitors across hundreds of polling locations.

At least one of those placements sparked tension with local officials. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, a Republican, said the behaviour of two monitors during that state's primary was 'a bit aggressive' and 'irregular'. A Laramie County clerk said the Justice Department monitors arrived at the polls intending to interview voters, but her office did not allow it. The department disagrees that the monitors did anything improper, Pels said; they are trained to comply with federal law governing conduct at polling places and will not 'interfere with the voting process'.

The department plans to send monitors to every state, focusing on high-population areas, 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. The Republican National Committee said its operation involves deploying 'election integrity deputy state directors' in 22 states, among them Arizona, Michigan, Georgia and North Carolina. Those workers are the 'eyes and the ears of the RNC in the field' who recruit volunteers and organise trainings, said Ally Triolo, the RNC's election integrity communications director; their mission is to surface anything that seems unlawful. The RNC has enlisted nearly 22,000 poll workers and is recruiting poll-watching volunteers for competitive districts.

While federal monitors have quietly observed elections for decades, largely without incident, some election officials are taking precautions. Chris Swope, the city clerk in Lansing, Michigan, said he preemptively contacted law enforcement and his attorney in case federal monitors violate election law, although he expects them to abide by the rules. The Democratic Mayors Association issued guidance to local officials noting that federal law prohibits the presence of federal immigration agents, the FBI or other investigative personnel at polling places, and that federal agents are not allowed to be armed at the polls, interact with voters or handle ballots or election equipment.

Justice Department officials have said their monitors will not be armed and will not interfere with voting. Asked about department monitors being sent to Georgia, Trump told a reporter recently: 'They're not going to do anything other than watch.' Some observation has already begun: Mary Corcoran, Save America's executive director, said her group's volunteers have been monitoring precincts during early voting in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio to help give voters a sense of security. 'The fear is the point, and we must do something about it,' she said. 'Left unanswered, fear does the work of keeping people home without a single agent setting foot at a polling place.'