A New Way for Veterans to Serve on Election Day

“Veterans are people who raised their hands to serve the country,” said Keiser. “There’s a gene we have to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We need that sense of purpose, even after we take off the uniform.” 

From checking names and explaining how to use the equipment, temporary workers are critical to the U.S. election process. But in recent years, there’s been a shortage, especially as older Americans took a step back during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 772,000 poll workers were required for the 2024 presidential election, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, but nearly 50% of locations reported having a difficult time recruiting people. 

That’s where Vet the Vote comes in. With trust in election results dropping — a recent AP poll shows that only 34% of U.S. adults trust government certifications of election results "a great deal" or "quite a bit” — veterans and military family members can help build that back up, Keiser said. 

A recent UMD study bears that out. The Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, in collaboration with We the Veterans, found that the most distrustful voters are 15% more likely to say they believe election results once they learn that veterans and family members were serving as poll workers. 

“They were more confident votes would be counted as voters intended,” said CDCE Director Mike Hanmer, professor of government and politics. 

[Election Workers Are Bracing for New Challenges, UMD Researcher Says]

Keiser’s call to serve comes from a long family tradition. His grandfather was an Army medic during World War II, and his father was a naval officer during the Vietnam War, inspiring Keiser to join the U.S. Marines after his freshman year at UMD. He did basic training over the summer, then served in the Marine Corps Reserve one weekend a month until he graduated, juggling his criminology and criminal justice studies with his reservist duties, and deployed to Kuwait when the Iraq war started in 2003. 

He left the Corps soon after his return stateside, finishing his law degree and focusing on his legal career for about a decade. But in the mid-2010s, Keiser started to miss the camaraderie and community of the military and began volunteering with a nonpartisan political action committee that sought to create a pipeline of veterans to elected office. After a few years, however, he realized he wasn’t satisfied with its narrow scope. 

“If there’s a space in our society that’s critical to our functioning self-government and how our country is organized, and that sphere is suffering from lack of trust and confidence, we need to get more veterans and family members into jobs and careers and positions,” he said, such as journalism and public service. 

He cofounded We the Veterans in 2021 with Navy spouse Ellen Gustafson and Air Force veteran Anil Nathan to do just that, and just a year later, launched its signature initiative, Vet the Vote.

Partnering with a wide variety of organizations, from major sports leagues like the NFL, NBA and NASCAR to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and state officials, the program recruited more than 63,000 poll workers during its first election cycle in 2022, filling about half of the 125,000 shortfall. Since then, Vet the Vote has also expanded into telling the stories of these military-connected election workers to further build trust in the system.

“Veterans take this very seriously,” said Symmes, who will serve as an election judge again in the 2026 midterms. “We are detail-oriented, good at following policies and procedures, so it’s a natural continuation of skills we already have.” 

Keiser hopes to see long-term effects; an internal survey shows that 93% plan to serve as a poll worker again and 96% would recommend the role to a family member or a friend. 

“If you have questions about elections, the best thing you can do is volunteer,” he said. “Once you see the rules and checks and cross-checks, anyone who does it will increase their confidence in elections.”