A coalition of military veterans and families announced a new effort Tuesday to bolster the ranks of election workers by recruiting within the military community
Vet the Vote, a project of We the Veterans, aims to enlist 100,000 veterans and military family members to be poll workers during the 2022 election, and to help sustain future elections as well.
“We see this as a new norm for veterans and military families members,” said Ellen Gustafson, co-executive director of Vet the Vote. “We don't envision that 2022 is going to be the one time that we call 100,000 military veterans and military film members to do this job.”
Veterans are “deeply committed to democracy,” said Anil Nathan, a second co-executive director. “The challenges are solvable. … Military families can lead.”
According to data collected by Vet the Votes, about 130,000 election workers have quit during the past three midterm cycles and two-thirds of election officials have said they struggle to recruit enough people to staff voting locations.
“Our intention as an organization, We the Veterans, was to find an opportunity for veterans and military family members to volunteer for democracy,” said another of the co-executive directors, Ellen Gustafson, who referenced the seemingly small but important tasks that come with working a polling location.
“All of those incredibly important jobs need to be done by citizens and what better group of citizens than veterans and military family members who've already proven their commitment to stand up and protect our democracy,” she said.
While Vet the Votes wants to support elections nationwide through its nearly two dozen coalition partners, the organization recognizes that some states are more in need than others. The campaign is particularly focused on recruiting poll workers in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin.
“What we are hoping is that by partly doing a national push we can engage as many veterans as possible, but that, if we do need to get more local .. in areas where really the need is exceptionally great we hope that, through these incredible partner organizations, we can target some of those communities,” Gustafson said.
Retired Gen. George Casey, who in addition to serving as Army chief of staff also supported elections in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq, is helping launch the effort.
Casey said he got involved in Vet the Vote after he had already signed up to be a poll worker in Arlington, Va.
“Even though that might seem like it's a small thing, confidence in our election process is fundamental to sustaining any democracy,” he said. “And it struck me that, by getting involved, I might just be able to do something to help restore a level of confidence to our electoral system.”
One of the factors driving experienced poll workers away has been a rise in threats made against them since the 2020 election, when Donald Trump and many of his backers claimed, without evidence, that the election had been stolen from him. Many still do not feel safe.
The organizers of Vet the Vote believe they can help alleviate this problem.
“What a perfect call to action for our veteran community, people who are trained at remaining calm under pressure, are trained at actually diffusing complex situations, are trained because of what they do as military members to put country over party and make sure that everyone is mission focused and not getting distracted by by any kind specific small sets,” Gustafson said. “I think that's that really is part of why we think this is a perfect community to step into this opportunity and and again to do this going forward, not just for these 2022 midterms but really going forward.”
Organizers stressed that this is a nonpartisan campaign, regardless of the political beliefs of members of the military community.
For us this is 100 percent purely a pro-democracy effort that has zero connection or affiliation to any level of partisanship,” said Nathan.
Coalition partners include Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the NFL, Civic Alliance, the National Military Family Association and the Military Officers Association of America.
“We believe that the threat to democracy is real and we're proud to be a part of this initiative in order to strengthen the legitimacy of our elections and ensure that Americans get involved in the electoral process,” said Janessa Goldbeck, CEO of coalition partner VetVoice Foundation.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks to voters at a town hall at the Elks Lodge 188 on June 7, 2026, in Portland, Maine.
McConnell and Platner both feel entitled
The two men could not be more different. One, a Republican, octogenarian, seven-term Southern senator, the other a progressive, millennial Maine oysterman who’s never spent a day in elected office.
But Mitch McConnell, the senior senator from Kentucky who’s been MIA for the past few weeks and Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate who’s facing calls to drop out of his race against Sen. Susan Collins, apparently do have something in common: an outsized sense of entitlement.
McConnell, who is 84 and not running for reelection, has been hospitalized for three weeks, and yet we still don’t fully know what he was admitted for or what his condition is. Per CNN, “his office has not disclosed a medical reason for the hospitalization or provided specifics on his health status beyond saying last week that he ‘continues to improve’ and ‘is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters.’ ”
While several legislators have said they’ve talked to him and insist he sounds strong, others have said they are completely in the dark. One MAGA influencer, Laura Loomer, posted ”High level source close to the White House tells me ‘Mitch McConnell is officially brain dead. He’s not coming back.’ ”
Meanwhile, up in Maine, Platner has been artfully dodging calls from his own party to drop out of his race after several allegations of misconduct from women, including a sexual assault allegation from a former girlfriend, came to light. While Platner, who has managed to survive a Nazi-tattoo scandal, a sexting scandal, and several old tweets scandals, denies the allegations, he has not quit.
High-profile Democrats including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, the latter of whom had unsuccessfully hand-selected Maine Gov. Janet Mills to face Collins instead of Platner, have urged Platner to drop out, while other Dems have accused him of trying to influence the picking of his replacement.
Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson released a statement Tuesday, which said in part:
“Unfortunately, Graham Platner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate nor in determining what this process looks like.”
Both incidents show a deep lack of accountability to voters, who in one case deserve to know whether their senator is capable of performing his duties, and in another deserve a candidate who isn’t being accused of crimes, bigotry and deception.
The offensive and odious entitlement of both McConnell and Platner stands out not because it is particularly unique among today’s political class. Tom Kean, the New Jersey GOP congressman, missed more than 100 votes, only sharing after a three-month mystery absence that he was dealing with depression.
Former President Joe Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin failed to disclose a hospitalization for prostate cancer surgery, flouting the established rules for Cabinet members and senior U.S. officials.
From Biden’s insistence on running for reelection despite his obvious cognitive and political weaknesses to Trump’s brazen flouting of laws and norms, few politicians seem to appreciate that their public service job comes with responsibilities to constituents, including transparency and honesty.
But both parties increasingly justify the chicanery, because the stakes of winning elections and keeping power are simply too high. But that’s no excuse. If we’ve learned anything over the past decade, it’s that character and accountability do, in fact, matter. And when we, the voters, stop caring about it, well, so do they.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.