Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has reassured an opposition senator that there are no plans to send troops to polling places for the November 3 election. In the letter, published by the Associated Press on Monday, Caine wrote: “The Joint Force has no plans to send federal military personnel or federally mobilized National Guard members to polling places for the 2026 election. Likewise, the Joint Force has no plans to use these personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or election-related materials.”
The letter was addressed to Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who recently asked Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to confirm they would not deploy troops to polling sites. Caine, the military adviser to Secretary Hegseth and President Donald Trump, also wrote: “I have not received, nor do I expect to receive, any illegal orders regarding the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November midterm elections.”
Democratic concerns that the Trump administration could interfere with the midterm elections have grown, especially after the President deployed federal personnel to Democratic-led states despite local opposition. Trump said they are needed for immigration enforcement and due to crime and protests.
In an interview with the AP in early August, Slotkin argued that Trump is laying the groundwork to declare the November election stolen. She cited Trump's past consideration of using the military to seize voting machines after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden and his deployment of the National Guard to cities against Democratic leaders' wishes. He also sent active-duty Marines to Los Angeles during the 2025 immigration crackdown.
Federal law prohibits deploying armed federal forces to polling places unless “necessary to repel an armed enemy of the United States.” If the military were involved, it would most likely be the National Guard under state control.
“The nonpartisan tradition of military service and the constitutional barriers preventing the military from becoming a domestic police force for a political party are essential to maintaining our democracy,” Slotkin said in a statement this month when releasing the letters to US military officials. “Therefore, the nation's top defense and security leaders are the last line of defense for our democracy.”
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles denied in an interview with Vanity Fair last year that Trump would use the military to suppress voting in the midterm elections. Slotkin's press secretary, Sonja Thrasher, said Secretary Hegseth has not yet responded to the letter requesting confirmation that troops will not be sent to polling places. Slotkin had requested a response by last Thursday.
In 2020, Gen. Mark Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs, responded to a similar letter from Slotkin, who was then a US House member. “I profoundly believe in the principle of an apolitical US military,” Milley wrote. “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the election, by law, the US courts and the US Congress are responsible to resolve any disputes, not the US military.”
