Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin requested Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to confirm that U.S. troops will not be deployed to polling places during the upcoming midterm elections. This request comes amid concerns from Democrats regarding potential military interference in the voting process by the Trump administration. In her letters to Hegseth and General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Slotkin asked for a commitment that the Department of Defense would not send federal troops to polling locations or seize election materials.
The Pentagon stated that it would respond directly to Slotkin, as is standard procedure for congressional correspondence. The Joint Chiefs did not provide immediate comments. Slotkin expressed concerns that former President Trump has been preparing to claim that the midterms were stolen, referencing past instances where Trump considered using the military to influence voting processes. She noted that Trump had previously deployed the National Guard against the wishes of Democratic leaders and sent active duty Marines to Los Angeles during an immigration crackdown.
In an earlier congressional hearing, Slotkin asked Hegseth if he would follow orders to seize ballots, to which Hegseth responded that he had never been ordered to do anything illegal. Federal law restricts the deployment of armed federal forces to election sites unless necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States. Any military involvement would likely come from the National Guard under state control. In 2020, General Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized the importance of an apolitical military in response to similar concerns.