1. United States
2. S.C.
3. Letter

You need to support legislation banning federal troops and ICE from polling locations. Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee just voted down two amendments to the NDAA that would have done exactly that — on a straight party-line vote. That should alarm every elected official who takes elections seriously. The threat is not hypothetical. Trump told The New York Times in January that he wished he had signed a 2020 executive order to send the military to seize ballots in Michigan. When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked at an April Senate hearing to simply pledge not to deploy troops to polling stations, he refused to answer. These are not the actions of an administration that plans to leave elections alone. Sen. Slotkin's amendments were modest — prohibit using federal funds to seize ballots or voting machines, and require Congress be notified of any troop deployment near polls. Republicans blocked both. It is already illegal for federal troops like ICE to be deployed to any polling place. It is also illegal to deploy the military to polling places, and yet, key Republicans refuse to agree to uphold these laws. I want to know if you plan to support the rule of law and uphold these protections. Make clear that using the military or federal agents to intimidate voters or interfere with election results is a line you will not let this administration cross.