Democrats announced a nationwide initiative to train tens of thousands of volunteers as poll monitors ahead of the November midterm elections. The effort, called the New Battlefield Project, comes from the Association of State Democratic Committees, an arm of the Democratic National Committee.

The program seeks to place volunteers at 25 percent of the nation's roughly 95,000 election day polling places, with a focus on competitive districts. Organizers say the volunteers, who will wear blue vests, will counter potential voter intimidation and respond to any needs at the polls, such as directing voters or explaining provisional ballots.

State Democratic committees across 57 states and territories will participate. Each state party already has a trained election protection director. The project also includes efforts to encourage early voting and build a network to counter disinformation.

Democrats have expressed concerns about possible interference from the Trump administration, including the deployment of federal agents to polling sites. Earlier this year, Senate Democrats launched a separate program to train congressional staff as election observers for Senate races.

Republican groups have also stepped-up poll watcher training. The Tea Party Patriots Action has held sessions in multiple battleground states and plans more events to reach hundreds in person and thousands online.

The Justice Department under President Trump plans to send about 1,000 monitors to polling places this fall, a figure described as potentially historic for a Republican administration. Monitors have already been active in recent primaries.

The midterm elections, set for November, will determine control of Congress with Democrats seeking gains in both the House and Senate.