In Phoenix, the community group Living United for Change in Arizona, known as LUCHA, has begun training volunteers it calls “constitutional observers.” Their role, trainer Carime Rodriguez told participants, is to watch polling conditions and stay alert—not to intervene. The group plans more in-person training sessions before Election Day.

LUCHA Executive Director Alejandra Gomez said the organization is preparing for the possibility of immigration enforcement near polling locations. She pointed to an increase in enforcement activity around sites in Maricopa County during Arizona’s primaries earlier this year. Federal officials have said ICE does not plan to target polling places, but political figures close to President Donald Trump have publicly called for agents to be sent there. The source text says deploying armed federal agents to polling places to intimidate voters would be illegal.

A separate effort called Vote Safe, organized by the Save America Movement with the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and unions including the American Federation of Teachers, plans to send volunteers to major population centers. Co-founder Mary Corcoran said the effort is focused especially on states with competitive Senate races, including Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia and Michigan, and communities with large or growing Black, Latino, Asian and immigrant populations. Volunteers are meant to bear witness and help de-escalate tensions, she said, not confront immigration agents.

The Justice Department is also planning a larger monitoring effort. Harmeet Dhillon, head of the department’s Civil Rights Division, said she intends to send 1,000 people to observe polling places, calling it the largest such effort in the department’s history. She said the observers would watch and take notes, not run elections or interfere. The Republican National Committee also recruits election observers.

Election administrators caution that the rules governing observers—including who may observe and how close they can get to voting areas—vary by state. Tammy Patrick of the National Association of Election Officials said large deployments are discussed in many election cycles but have not always materialized. If a problem arises, she said, election workers and local law enforcement are responsible for addressing it.

Observers can document what they see, but they do not have authority to manage polling places. Democratic state-party organizations, meanwhile, say they plan to record alleged misconduct and pass evidence to party officials, potentially for use in legal challenges. The competing plans put a spotlight on how election transparency, voter access and the risk of intimidation may shape the midterms.