Democrats brace for “election sabotage” with new plan to counter Trump interference

Democratic state parties announced Monday the launch of the “New Battlefield Project,” an operation to recruit 10,000 volunteers to guard polling places in case armed federal officers show up during the midterm elections, according to The Associated Press.

Activists are also planning mass protests should the Trump administration attempt to interfere with voting or ballot counting, while legal scholars are distributing white papers advising judges on how to respond if the government tries to seize ballots, a measure inspired by the administration’s 2020 seizure of ballots in Fulton County, Georgia.

Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin said Democrats have “never prepared for an election sabotage event like we have now.”

The AP noted Trump refused to accept his 2020 loss and has since stocked his administration with allies from that effort, pardoned more than 1,000 January 6 defendants, and pushed Republicans to redraw House maps ahead of the midterms.

With incumbent parties historically losing ground in midterms, Democrats say Trump’s escalating moves to reshape the rules justify the unprecedented contingency planning now underway.