The nonprofit, We the Veterans, reached its goal this month of recruiting 100,000 people to serve as poll workers in their communities. As of Wednesday afternoon, 136,815 had signed up. In total, about 1 million temporary workers will be needed to staff polling locations across the country this November, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Those workers welcome and check in voters, issue ballots and explain how to use voting equipment. Having veterans and their family members perform those tasks lends credibility to the process and helps quash skepticism during a time when public trust in the government is low, We the Veterans believes.

“You can be pretty confident that when you go vote, somebody in the direct line of your ballot is a veteran or military family member,” Gustafson said. “We think this is a great opportunity to engage our population in an important civic service, and we think a side benefit is that having our most trusted group of Americans doing the work of running elections should absolutely bring more trust across America into the process.”

Widespread misinformation about the voting process first prompted We the Veterans to recruit veterans and their families to work the polls in 2022. That year, the group recruited 63,500 people.

The group launched a renewed “Vet the Vote” campaign in February at the Super Bowl. Now that the group has surpassed its goal, it’s going to continue signing up as many veterans and family members as it can. Many jurisdictions start training poll workers in August for the presidential election and cease recruiting by September or early October, said Dan Vallone, director of Vet the Vote.

“The new way we’re looking at it is that we want to have as large a proportion as we can get,” Gustafson said.

We the Veterans also plans to continue its voting education programs. The group began traveling state-to-state last year, hosting events with secretaries of state to teach communities about the election process. Group members have recently visited Nevada, Arizona and South Carolina, and they’re planning more events across the country this summer.

Aboard the USS Yorktown near Charleston this May, We the Veterans hosted an event during which veterans walked people through a mock election process, explaining the check-in process and how voting machines worked.

Experts are already tracking rampant misinformation and disinformation about the upcoming presidential election — including domestic campaigns, as well as efforts by Russia, China and Iran — designed to encourage Americans to question the validity and integrity of their voting process.

“We believe giving people that education is a really important service in this time when there’s so much confusion,” Gustafson said. “A baseline education in how elections work can go a long way in building trust in the system.”

This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com.

NASA test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched aboard Boeing’s new Starliner capsule early last month, the first people to ride it. Leaks and thruster failures almost derailed their arrival at the International Space Station, and has kept them there much longer than planned.

In their first news conference from orbit, they said they expect to return once thruster testing is complete here on Earth. They said they’re not complaining about getting extra time in orbit, and are enjoying helping the station crew.

“I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home, no problem,” Williams told reporters.

The two rocketed into orbit on June 5 on the test flight, which was originally supposed to last eight days.

NASA ordered up the Starliner and SpaceX Dragon capsules a decade ago for astronaut flights to and from the space station, paying each company billions of dollars. SpaceX’s first taxi flight with astronauts was in 2020. Boeing’s first crew flight was repeatedly delayed because of software and other issues.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the contract Tuesday at a Chamber of Commerce industry day focused on increasing NATO member countries’ defense manufacturing capabilities to deter future attacks.

“There is no way to provide strong defense without a strong defense industry,” Stoltenberg said.

The Stinger is a portable surface-to-air defense system that can be carried and fired by troops or mounted onto a vehicle and used as short-range defense against aircraft.

The Raytheon-produced system was one of the first weapons the U.S. shipped to Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion. It is now among hundreds of types of systems, and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition, artillery and missiles, that countries have pulled from their stockpiles to help Ukraine. But the rapid push over the past two years exposed that defense firms both in the U.S. and in Europe were not set to produce at the levels needed in a major conventional war.

The NATO summit is also occurring against a backdrop of uncertainty: U.S. political divisions delayed weapons for Ukraine for months and the upcoming presidential election is raising concern that U.S. backing — with weapons and troops — in case of threats against member countries may not always be guaranteed.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has boasted during campaign speeches that he’d encourage Russia to do as it wished with NATO members that do not meet their commitment to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

In some cases, defense production lines were stagnant at the time of the 2022 invasion and are only now getting production numbers up. The buildup has been dependent on getting new, longer-term contracts signed to support more capital investment in the needed infrastructure.

“This is not about shifts or a bottleneck. It’s building new factories,” said Morten Brandtzaeg, the chief executive officer of Nammo, a Norway-based ammunition firm.

The war also spurred those NATO members to increase the amount they spend on defense.

Out of 32 NATO members, 23 are expected to meet the 2% commitment this year, up from just six before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That’s seen as still not enough, as Russia has leveraged the sheer size of its workforce to rapidly replace weapons lost in the war.

“If you want to fight a war for a long time, you need to have an industry behind you, that has the capacity for a long time,” Brandtzaeg said.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told the Chamber of Commerce that Russia is now spending an estimated 7% to 9% of its GDP on defense. Estonia is spending more than 3% of its GDP on defense, but needs to do more to refill its stockpiles, Pevkur said.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who also serves as a deputy prime minister, said his country will commit at least 4% of its GDP to defense this year.

The war in Ukraine “exposed major weaknesses of Poland, of region and of the world at large,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

Since the invasion, the U.S. has provided more than $53.6 billion in weapons and security assistance to Ukraine. This support, at a time when the U.S. also is sending weapons to Israel and Taiwan, has strained the U.S. stockpile. The rest of the NATO members and other international partners have provided about $50 billion altogether in weapons and security assistance, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, an independent research organization based in Germany.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told Tuesday’s gathering that for the first time ever, the NATO countries will each pledge to make plans to strengthen their own industrial defense capacity. He said this would help the alliance “prioritize production of the most vital defense equipment we would need in the event of a conflict.”

The 32 members have widely varying defense industry sizes and capabilities, so each country’s plan could vary widely, from partnering with industry to partnering with other countries.

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Cook reported from Brussels.

The first lady was to announce the formation of Veterans and Military Families for Biden-Harris during stops Monday in Wilmington, North Carolina; Tampa, Florida; and Columbus, Georgia. The states have large populations of veterans and military families.

Her daylong tour is part of the Biden campaign’s broader effort to rebound from the president’s halting performance against Trump in last month’s debate, which led a handful of House Democrats and others to call on Biden to end his campaign because they no longer believe the 81-year-old president is mentally and physically capable of defeating Trump in November’s election.

Biden has insisted, during public appearances since the June 27 debate, that he is staying in the race.

His campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said the new group will work to engage and mobilize millions of veterans and military families in the U.S. to vote to reelect the president.

“Our veterans and military families are the brave and the bold, who step forward for all of us,” she said. “They deserve a commander in chief who respects their bravery and understands personally their sacrifice, not one who denigrates them for being willing to put their lives on the line for our democracy.”

Rodriguez was referring to reports that Trump, during a 2018 trip to France, referred to service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice as “suckers” and “losers.” Trump denies making the comments.

Biden’s late son Beau served in Iraq as a member of the Delaware Army National Guard, and the first lady’s father was a Navy signalman during World War II.

Biden and Trump argued during the debate over who cares the most about veterans. Biden noted that he recently visited an American military cemetery in France, the final resting place for U.S. soldiers who fought in World War I, which Trump notably skipped on that 2018 trip.

Trump asserted during the debate that the Democratic president is coddling migrants while neglecting the needs of veterans and service members, and he faulted Biden for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Biden’s campaign noted that the president had expanded benefits for veterans affected by toxic exposures, developed a strategy to reduce veteran suicide, increased support for caregivers and awarded more than $1 billion in 2023 to support homeless veterans.

Jill Biden separately leads a White House initiative named Joining Forces, which is working to help military spouses get and keep federal government jobs, make child care more affordable and accessible for military families and support those who care for veterans.

The undeveloped Arctic region, with its wealth of resources, logistical nodes for faster travel and vast military and strategic potential, has long made it an important frontier for nations including Russia and the U.S. seeking geopolitical dominance.

Now, the People’s Republic of China is looking to the Arctic as part of its long-term strategy to replace the U.S. as the leading world power both economically and militarily. It wants the access and positional advantage of potential new shipping routes and resources that the Arctic region provides, and China is investing and engaging in scientific studies to increase influence in the region.

As a “near Arctic state,” China is unable to pursue open military presence in the region, so the country is pushing economically by investing over $90 billion in scientific research. The Chinese first entered the region back in 2003 in Norway by building a research base which began their expanse of influence within the region. It is also establishing other connections with Arctic states and involving itself in the counsels.

This strategy is giving China a growing foothold in the area. The country’s involvement in the free trade agreement policy with Iceland also brings it to the table as it discusses a future influential area with untapped recourses and closer borders to more vulnerable regions of the world.

At first glance, this approach seems simple and straight-forward, however, a deeper look shows that China is conducting strategic moves that will have long-term benefit for the PRC. Multiple attempts of purchasing land has been made in nations in or near the Arctic regions, including potential golf courses, three airfields, and a former military base.

All of these proposals have been rejected by the Arctic state amid growing concern of China choosing strategic infrastructure that would develop ports, active airfields and access to future nodes. Even against opposition, the PRC is able to partner with nations such as Finland and Greenland to increase communication capabilities in new areas. It’s is also working on undersea cables along the Northern Sea Route to lessen their dependency on external nations for information movement flows.

The number one priority for the U.S. in the region is security,as outlined in the National Strategy for the Arctic Region. Updates made in 2022 define more focused and achievable goals after observing the lack of effort compared to other Arctic states and near-Arctic nations. The U.S. goal is to protect its interests by deterring potential threats and mitigating future risk.

The best method to deter adversaries is by having a consistent and strong presence. Specialized training in harsh Arctic environments prepares soldiers how to handle situations in extreme cold weather that are harmful to people and leads to slower mission planning and execution by substantial margins. Being able to survive or thrive in temperatures below negative thirty degrees Fahrenheit requires an already present and equipped force that has established processes to win in that environment.

On June 6, 2022, the 11th Airborne Division was activated to achieve success in those harsh environments. By executing expeditionary missions and expanding the unknown impacts of multi-domain operations, they can better predict how to win in an Arctic environment. They increase their competence through the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center in Alaska to make them a stronger presence in the Arctic to deter threats and mitigate risk to previously vulnerable regions.

China has had more than twenty years of strategically moving to become an actual Arctic state player. The investment far exceeds the time and effort the U.S. has put into the new frontier. The PRC still lacks the advantage, but is staged to be more influential and successful in the joint cooperation and infrastructure development required to maintain a growing presence in the Arctic.

The best time to start this endeavor was twenty years ago and the second-best time to start is now. America has started late in this race and needs more foresight on how to win in the Arctic.

Captain Nicholas Tachias is a Military Intelligence Officer in the United States Army. He’s a graduate of the University of Alabama in Huntsville earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Systems with a concentration in Business Analytics in 2019.

The letter — sent June 20 to David Newman, a top official in the Justice Department’s national security division, before President Biden signed the potential TikTok ban into law — was submitted in federal court along with a legal brief supporting the company’s lawsuit against measure. TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which is expected to be one of the biggest legal battles in tech and internet history.

The internal documents provide details about negotiations between TikTok and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a secretive inter-agency panel that investigates corporate deals over national security concerns, between January 2021 and August 2022.

TikTok has said those talks ultimately resulted in a 90-page draft security agreement that would have required the company to implement more robust safeguards around U.S. user data. It would have also required TikTok to put in a “kill switch” that would have allowed CFIUS to suspend the platform if it was found to be non-compliant with the agreement.

However, attorneys for TikTok said the agency “ceased any substantive negotiations” with the company after it submitted the draft agreement in August 2022.

CFIUS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department said it is looking forward to defending the recently enacted legislation, which it says addresses “critical national security concerns in a manner that is consistent with the First Amendment and other constitutional limitations.”

“Alongside others in our intelligence community and in Congress, the Justice Department has consistently warned about the threat of autocratic nations that can weaponize technology — such as the apps and software that run on our phones – to use against us,” the statement said. “This threat is compounded when those autocratic nations require companies under their control to turn over sensitive data to the government in secret.”

The letter sent to Newman details additional meetings between TikTok and government officials since then, including a March 2023 call the company said was arranged by Paul Rosen, the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for investment security.

According to TikTok, Rosen told the company that “senior government officials” deemed the draft agreement to be insufficient to address the government’s national security concerns. Rosen also said a solution would have to involve a divestment by ByteDance and the migration of the social platform’s source code, or its fundamental programming, out of China.

TikTok’s lawsuit has painted divestment as a technological impossibility since the law requires all of TikTok’s millions of lines of code to be wrested from ByteDance so that there would be no “operational relationship” between the Chinese company and the new U.S. app.

After the Wall Street Journal reported in March 2023 that CFIUS had threatened ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban, TikTok’s attorneys held another call with senior staff from the Justice and Treasury departments where they said leaks to the media by government officials were “problematic and damaging.”

That call was followed by an in-person meeting in May 2023 between TikTok’s attorneys, technical experts and senior staff at the Treasury Department focused on data safety measures and TikTok’s source code, the company’s attorneys said. The last meeting with CFIUS occurred in September 2023.

In the letter to Newman, TikTok’s attorneys say CFIUS provides a constructive way to address the government’s concern. However, they added, the agency can only serve this purpose when the law – which imposes confidentiality – and regulations “are followed and both sides are engaged in good-faith discussions, as opposed to political subterfuge, where CFIUS negotiations are misappropriated for legislative purposes.”

The legal brief also shared details of, but does not include, a one-page document the Justice Department allegedly provided to members of Congress in March, a month before they passed the federal bill that would require the platform to be sold to an approved buyer or face a ban.

TikTok’s attorneys said the document asserted TikTok collects sensitive data without alleging the Chinese government has ever obtained such data. According to the company, the document also alleged that TikTok’s algorithm creates the potential for China to influence content on the platform without alleging the country has ever done so.

The U.S. military reanchored its temporary humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza, less than a week after detaching it ahead of high seas, a defense official said.

On Thursday, the pier was once again unloading aid, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

However, the aid rolling into Gaza won’t immediately reach the Palestinian people — more than 1 million of whom face “catastrophic levels of hunger,” according to the United Nations World Food Programme.

The WFP is responsible for distributing the humanitarian support but paused its deliveries June 9 due to concerns over worker safety. A day before, Executive Director Cindy McCain said, two warehouses had been hit by rockets, leaving one worker injured.

In the meantime, the crates moving from the pier into Gaza are only filling the nearby storage sites.

Following its completion in mid-May, the pier has been a debacle for the U.S. military. It was damaged by stormy weather little over a week later, leaving it out of commission until June 8. U.S. Central Command announced it would detach the pier last week, expecting rough seas that might again cause damage.

In addition, multiple U.S. service members have sustained noncombatant injuries while working on the humanitarian site.

Since its installation, the pier has only been operational for about 10 days and delivered 3,500 metric tons of aid for further transport the aid into Gaza, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh. The Pentagon insists that the pier is a “temporary measure” and that a sufficient amount of aid can only come through land routes into Gaza.

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a briefing that he doesn’t have a date on when the pier will cease operations.

Aside from weather conditions, another concern is when the WFP will resume their distribution.

The same day WFP warehouses were rocketed, an Israeli-held raid rescued four hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is run by the terrorist group Hamas. The Israeli rescue unit used an area near the pier during its operation, leading WFP to conduct a security review on whether they can safely continue operations.

McCain said in a CBS “Face the Nation” interview that she is unsure how the warehouses got rocketed since they are “deconflicted” from the Israeli military.

In a briefing with reporters last week, Ryder affirmed multiple times that the Israeli Defense Forces used no part of the pier or humanitarian staging ground to launch its hostage-rescue operation.

Reporting by The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city to see his girlfriend and was arrested last month after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. officials and Russian authorities.

Russia’s state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported that the judge in Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok also ordered Black to pay 10,000 rubles ($115) in damages. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of four years and eight months in prison.

Black’s case occurs amid tensions over Russia’s arrests of American journalists and other U.S. nationals as the fighting in Ukraine continues.

Russia has jailed a number of Americans, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The U.S. government has designated both men as wrongfully detained and has been trying to negotiate their release.

Others detained include Travis Leake, a musician who has been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals Alsu Kurmasheva and Ksenia Khavana.

The U.S. State Department strongly advises American citizens not to go to Russia.

Black was on leave and in the process of returning to his home base at Fort Cavazos, Texas, from South Korea, where he had been stationed at Camp Humphreys with the Eighth Army.

Cynthia Smith, an Army spokesperson, said Black signed out for his move back home and, “instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons.”

Under Pentagon policy, service members must get clearance for any international travel from a security manager or commander.

The U.S. Army said last month that Black hadn’t sought such travel clearance and it wasn’t authorized by the Defense Department. Given the hostilities in Ukraine and threats to the U.S. and its military, it is extremely unlikely he would have been granted approval.

Black’s girlfriend, Alexandra Vashchuk, told reporters earlier this month that “it was a simple domestic dispute,” during which Black “became aggressive and attacked” her.

“He then stole money from my wallet and I didn’t give him permission to do it,” Vashchuk said.

On Wednesday, she told Russian news outlet Gazeta.ru that she considers the sentence “quite humane” and described Black as “violent and unable to control himself.”

U.S. officials have said that Black, who is married, met Vashchuk in South Korea.

According to U.S. officials, she had lived in South Korea, and last fall she and Black got into some type of domestic dispute or altercation. After that, she left South Korea. It isn’t clear if she was forced to leave or what, if any, role South Korean authorities had in the matter.

Despite the federal charges against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, and his recent guilty verdict in an unrelated hush money trial, the Republican former president arrived emboldened as the party’s presumptive nominee. He has successfully purged the GOP of critics, silenced most skeptics and enticed once-critical lawmakers aboard his MAGA-fueled campaign.

A packed room of House Republicans sang “Happy Birthday” to Trump in the private breakfast meeting at GOP campaign headquarters across the street from the Capitol. The lawmakers gave him a baseball and bat from the annual congressional game. Trump bragged that even his telephone rallies for lawmakers could draw bigger crowds than mega-popstar Taylor Swift, who has yet to make any endorsement.

“President Trump brought an extraordinary amount of energy, excitement and enthusiasm this morning,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, noting high fund-raising tallies since the guilty verdict. “We’re feeling good.”

The Republican speaker had demurred earlier over whether he’s asked Trump to respect the peaceful transfer of presidential power and commit to not doing another Jan. 6. “Of course he respects that, we all do, and we’ve all talked about it, ad nauseum.”

Trump told Johnson Thursday he thinks the speaker is doing a “terrific job,” according to a Republican in the private meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it. He asked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the speaker’s chief Republican critic, if she was being “nice” to Johnson, another Republican said.

Trump spent about an hour with House Republicans delivering free-wheeling remarks, fielding questions and discussing issues — including Russia and immigration and also tax cuts and other priorities for a potential second term. On one major controversial issue, Trump told lawmakers that abortion rules should be left to the states and said he supported exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother, lawmakers said.

Senate Republicans welcomed Trump next in the afternoon, as protesters clamored at both locations and police beefed up security.

Many potential priorities for a new White House administration are being formulated by a constellation of outside groups, including Project 2025, laying the groundwork for executive and legislative actions, though Trump has made clear he has his own agenda.

“Anybody who thought that this president was going to be down after the sham trial. it’s only giving him even more energy,” said Rep. Tom Emmer, the GOP whip. “Donald Trump is crushing this election.”

But Trump’s private meetings with House and Senate Republicans so close to the Capitol were infused with the symbolism of his return as the U.S. president who threatened the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of power.

“It’s frustrating,” said former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who made his own unsuccessful run for Congress as a Maryland Democrat in the aftermath of Jan. 6, the day when police engaged in hand-to-hand fighting to stop Trump supporters who stormed the building in an effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s election.

Dunn spoke of the “irony” of Trump returning to the area and lawmakers now embracing him. “It just shows the lack of backbone they have when they’re truly putting party and person over country,” he said. “And it’s sad.”

Biden was overseas Thursday attending a summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, but the president’s campaign unveiled a new ad blaming Trump for lighting the “fire” of Jan. 6 and threatening democracy.

Many of those who once stood up to Trump are long gone from office and the Republicans who remain seem increasingly enthusiastic about the possibility of him retaking the White House, and the down-ballot windfall that could mean for their own GOP majorities in Congress.

Thursday was to include an encounter between Trump and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who once blamed Trump for the “disgraceful” attack that he called an “insurrection” but now endorses the party’s presumptive nominee. “Of course I’ll be at the meeting.”

Sen. John Thune, the GOP whip who is vying to replace McConnell as leader, told The Associated Press that he was interested in hearing from Trump about the fall election. “I think there’s an opportunity there to really make this a big win,” he said.

As democracies around the world come under threat from a far-rightward shift, some analysts warn that the U.S. system, once seemingly immune from authoritarian impulses, is at risk of populist and extremist forces like those that Trump inspired to sack the Capitol.

“This is just another example of House Republicans bending the knee to Donald Trump,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the chairman of the House Democratic caucus.

Making Jan. 6 a cornerstone of his reelection campaign, Trump celebrates those who stormed the Capitol as “warriors” and “patriots,” and he has vowed to pardon any number of the more than 1,300 convicted of crimes for the assault on the seat of U.S. democracy.

Moreover, Trump has vowed to seek retribution by ousting officials at the U.S. Justice Department, which is prosecuting him in a four-count indictment to overturn the election ahead of the Jan. 6 attack and another case over storing classified documents at his Mar-A-Largo home.

Republicans, particularly in the House but increasingly in the Senate, are vigorously following his lead, complaining of an unfair justice system. Alongside Trump, the House and Senate GOP campaign arms scored some of their highest fundraising periods yet after a jury found him guilty in the New York hush money case.

When former GOP Speaker Paul Ryan on Fox News reiterated this week that he wouldn’t be voting for Trump and wished Republicans had another choice for president, he was immediately ostracized by Trump allies.

“Paul Ryan, you’re a piece of garbage,” said Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas. “We should kick you out of the party.”

Of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over Jan. 6 and convict him on the charge of inciting the insurrection, only a few remain in office.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, were not expected to attend Thursday’s closed-door session with Trump. But Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, had a change of plans and was to join.

Also Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he would likely join the Trump meeting at GOP senators’ campaign headquarters, expecting “he’s going to be the next president, so you have to work” together.

Asked if he was concerned about the direction of the Trump Republican Party, Cassidy said: “Let the day’s own troubles be sufficient for the day. You can fill yourself up with anxiety about tomorrow, but will it change a thing? No.”

We the Veterans kicked off its Vet the Vote campaign in February with the goal of hiring 100,000 poll workers. Ellen Gustafson, the group’s co-founder, said Thursday the group would likely hit that target, making veterans and service members a significant fraction of the overall number of volunteers needed to work the polls in November.

“We will get to 100,000, easily, of poll workers that we have personally recruited,” Gustafson said. “A little over a million across the country are needed for the national presidential election. So, we know we’re going to be 10% of that, and we think we can go higher.”

To reach the goal, the group is traveling state-to-state, hosting events with secretaries of state to teach people about the election process and relay the importance of getting involved in the voting process. Group members have recently traveled to Nevada, Arizona and South Carolina, and they’re planning more events across the country this summer.

Many jurisdictions start training poll workers in August for the presidential election and cease recruiting by September or early October, said Dan Vallone, director of Vet the Vote.

“A lot of states have concluded their primaries and have been gearing up for the election, which is why we’re really trying to make a big push on recruiting, as the need increases dramatically,” Vallone said. “Our big push and most intensive cycle starts in June and continues to mid-September.”

Widespread misinformation about the American voting process first prompted We the Veterans to recruit veterans and military families to work the polls in 2022. According to the group, their idea was to harness the social credibility and standing that veterans and military families hold and ask them to serve as trusted messengers about elections.

Experts are already tracking rampant misinformation about the upcoming presidential election, including domestic campaigns, as well as efforts by Russia and China to encourage Americans to question the validity and integrity of their voting process.

To further push against the idea that elections are “rigged,” We the Veterans is bringing together leaders of various veterans groups next week to discuss methods for using their positions of trust to renew Americans’ faith in democracy, Gustafson said. The event, held at Mount Vernon on June 13, aims to fight against the notion that the country is deeply divided.

“There’s an undercurrent of Americans working together all the time without regard to their political allegiance,” Gustafson said. “We’ll showcase how our community works together across many different backgrounds to accomplish things… and how other Americans can follow our lead and get in the game, not just sit on the sidelines behind a screen.”

This story was produced in partnership with Military Veterans in Journalism. Please send tips to MVJ-Tips@militarytimes.com.