Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) sent letters Monday to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine, requesting confirmation that the U.S. military will not be deployed to polling places or used to seize election materials during the upcoming midterm elections. Slotkin, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, described the request as a "simple statement" to ensure the military remains nonpartisan.
The request follows public comments by President Trump regarding the potential federalization of election security. During an interview with Wayne Root last week, the president did not rule out the possibility of declaring a national security emergency to federalize the midterms, stating, "stranger things have happened." Additionally, Trump told The New York Times earlier this year that he regretted not using National Guard troops to seize voting machines following the 2020 election.
In her correspondence, Slotkin cited federal law that prohibits the military from being present at polling locations unless necessary to "repel armed enemies." She asked the defense leaders to commit to resisting any requests that would turn the military into a "domestic police force for one political party." The Department of Justice (DOJ) has already announced separate plans to deploy 1,000 poll monitors for the midterms, according to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
For individual voters and election workers, the outcome of this request and any subsequent executive orders would determine the environment at their local precinct. A deployment could involve the physical presence of uniformed service members at ballot boxes or counting centers, a task currently handled by civilians and local authorities. The scale of the reported DOJ monitoring effort alone—1,000 monitors—indicates a federal interest in election oversight that would be significantly expanded if military personnel were added to the mission.
The precedent for military involvement in elections is limited by the federal statute cited by Slotkin, which restricts such actions to national defense emergencies. Any move to federalize the midterms would likely face legal challenges based on these statutes. The Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have not yet issued a public response to the senator's letters. The midterm elections are scheduled for later this year, and the DOJ's plan to deploy its monitors is already in progress, having already utilized 75 monitors in five states during the primary season.