How National Guard units are being deployed around the midterm elections

National Guard members in at least seven states will have some form of a role around Tuesday’s highly charged midterm elections.

As Americans head to the polls, plain clothes National Guard soldiers are set to help monitor ballot boxes in seven Washington state counties, Iowa guardsmen are tasked with monitoring and defending election networks, and Colorado Guard members will be assisting with election cybersecurity.

Those are just a few examples of the military’s role before and during Nov. 3, an election that has received intense scrutiny as Democrats look to win control of the House and Senate and President Trump has asserted he would do “anything necessary” to ensure honest elections.

A majority of Americans, however, do not think troops should be used at polling sites.

A new survey released by The Democracy and Security Network at the German Marshall Fund of the United States said those pushing back at the use of troops at the polls say it damages the public’s confidence in the military as an institution.

Loren Voss, one of the researchers who conducted the survey, said that out of the 2,800 Americans polled, 59 percent said that the president should not use the federal military to monitor or administer elections.

She told The Hill there is a generalized fear around federal interference in the elections, be it by a federalized National Guard presence, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or FBI agents, and having members of the military help around polling stations only adds to that concern of interference.

“This is just another instance of using the National Guard for something that should be a civilian mission,” she said on the use of the guard at ballot boxes in Washington. “That is just so fraught for the potential of people thinking that there’s something untoward going on. You just shouldn’t take that risk.”

Federal law generally does not allow armed personnel to be stationed at a place where an election is being held – with the exception being a polling location is being attacked where federal force is needed.

But in the past several presidential and midterm elections, state governors have increasingly called on their National Guard to monitor cybersecurity and assist local authorities. In 2022 at least 14 states used their guardsmen, a number that rose to 15 in 2024.

This year, seven states have publicly acknowledged the Guard’s involvement in the midterms, with Washington drawing the most attention after Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) last month offered counties an “Election Neighborhood Watch.” Seven counties took Ferguson up on his offer; the mobilization will consist of about 100 total National Guard troops.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ferguson pointed to the 2024 incident when an unknown arsonist threw an incendiary device into a ballot box in Vancouver, Wash., damaging several hundred ballots. Then-Gov. Jay Inslee activated the National Guard to assist after the event.

Ferguson also referred to recent reports of letters containing white powder sent to the secretary of state’s office and to several congressional offices.

“[We want to] just take every precaution we can to make sure that we’re protecting our voting system,” he said. “The National Guard, just so we’re clear, is called up routinely for elections, for cybersecurity and other things.”

In North Carolina, the National Guard’s Joint Cyber Security Task Force will help monitor election networks, along with the state’s Emergency Operations Center, a guard official told The Hill. They added that their Civil Support Teams are always on standby but they have not been alerted at this time.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) in June ordered his National Guard to assist with election cybersecurity, the only election support that the Secretary of State’s Office has requested at this time, The Hill was told.

Iowa guardsmen, meanwhile, would work alongside Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and state partners with its “specialized cybersecurity expertise, technical capabilities and operational experience to help identify potential cyber threats, strengthen defensive readiness and improve coordination among state agencies,” Brig. Gen. Mark Kappelman announced last week.

The Alabama and Oklahoma National Guards already have been used after their specialists in October responded to two separate incidents where suspicious packages containing white powder were mailed to the Alabama Secretary of State’s office and the Oklahoma State Election Board.

Arizona also will reportedly have its guard assist in the midterms but its office did not respond to questions from The Hill as to what they would look like.

Elsewhere, Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns that the Trump administration may use the military or ICE agents to intimidate voters or election workers, contest the results of certain races, or seize voting machines or ballots. Trump in an January interview with The New York Times said that he regretted not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines in swing states after he lost the 2020 election.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security have said they do not plan to send ICE officers to patrol polls.

In Washington, D.C., meanwhile, the National Guard has been deployed by Trump since last year and will be on patrol on election day, though the city has asked the guard to limit the placement of troops near mail ballot drop boxes.

Senate Armed Services Committee member Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), earlier this fall sent letters to Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel and Chief of the National Guard General Steven Nordhaus asking for a commitment to keep federal forces and law enforcement agents out of the midterm elections.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine earlier in August assured Slotkin in letter that there were no plans to send troops to seize election-related materials.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Sept. 22 directive, however, ordered military spy agencies to “mobilize every asset . . . to defend our election” so that “every lawful voter can cast their ballot free from foreign intimidation, coercion, or fear.”

Trump also has refused to rule out invoking the Insurrection Act or declaring a national emergency around the midterm elections.