The U.S. military is not planning to send troops or other personnel to polling places during the 2026 midterm elections, according to Gen. Dan Caine, the country’s highest-ranking military officer.
Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the pledge in a letter to Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who had asked him and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about the role of the armed forces during the November elections.
“Election administration and security remain the fundamental responsibility of state and local officials,” Caine wrote to Slotkin. “The Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections. Likewise, the Joint Force has no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election-related material.”
The letter, obtained by NBC News, was first reported by The Associated Press.
Caine wrote that “I have neither received nor anticipate receiving any unlawful order concerning the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November 2026 midterm elections.”
Federal law forbids the presence of U.S. troops at the polls “unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”
The potential presence of troops at polling places has been the subject of debate since President Donald Trump told The New York Times in January that he regretted not having sent in the U.S. military to seize voting machines after his defeat in 2020.
Trump told the Times he “should have” done that after he considered it, and he falsely claimed that the 2020 election, which he lost, had been stolen.
Democrats are also wary after Trump last year sent National Guard troops to cities run by Democratic mayors — including Chicago and Washington — over their objections.
Slotkin and other Senate Democrats introduced legislation in June that would ban the president from sending armed military or federal agents to polling sites during elections.
During Trump’s first term in 2020, Slotkin — then serving in the House — and then-Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., asked similar questions of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, Gen. Mark Milley.
Milley replied that the Constitution establishes procedures for carrying out elections, which he said were overseen by qualified officials from state and federal governments.
“We are a nation of laws. We follow the rule of law and have done so with regard to past elections and will continue to do so in the future. I do not see the U.S. military as part of this process; this is the responsibility of Congress, the Supreme Court and components of the Executive Branch,” he said.
