US military has ‘no plans’ to be at polling places in November, Caine says
The highest-ranking officer in the U.S. said the military has no plans to seize ballots, voting machines or other election-related material in a letter to a Democratic senator.
Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine has stated that there are no plans to involve the military in polling places during the upcoming midterm elections, according to a letter released on Monday. Caine, the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. military, wrote the letter in response to a request from Senator Elissa Slotkin, who questioned the military's role in the November 2026 elections.
Caine emphasized that the "Joint Force has no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election-related material." He also affirmed that he has neither received nor expects any unlawful orders regarding the military's involvement in the elections.
Slotkin, a member of the Senate Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, has repeatedly raised concerns about potential interference from the Trump administration in the elections. Some close Trump allies have called for the deployment of the military or immigration officers to polling places, but Trump has neither confirmed nor denied such a move.
However, Trump has previously made unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud and deployed a "whole of government" approach to combating what he perceives as a rigged election system.
In an effort to safeguard the integrity of elections, Slotkin introduced the Protect Our Polls Act in June, aiming to protect the election process from federal interference. She accused President Trump of wanting to undermine the elections and refusing to rule out sending uniformed military personnel to the polls or to collect ballots and voting machines.
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