How Democrats Are Mobilizing to Counter Potential Election Interference Amid Trump Concerns

The Justice Department announced last month that its Civil Rights Division would be “monitoring polling sites in Florida and Wyoming for the states’ primary elections to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.” 

On Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel also indicated that he was not opposed to the idea of dispatching federal agents to voting locations.

Separately, Trump has deployed the National Guard to cities across the country, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., with the stated goal of helping combat crime, though the data indicates that crime rates in many of those cities have been falling for years. When asked in May if he would send members of the National Guard or ICE officers to the polls, Trump replied, “I’d do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections.”

The troops’ presence, as well as comments from the President and his allies, has raised concerns from some Democrats that the military could be sent to voting locations. Members of the military are prohibited under federal law from being sent to “any place where a general or special election is held,” however. And in August, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin in a letter that 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.”