Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) has introduced the Protect Our Polls Act, a legislative bid to prevent President Trump from deploying military personnel or federal law enforcement to polling places during the upcoming midterm elections. The bill, unveiled Thursday, would mandate congressional approval before any uniformed troops or armed federal agents can be stationed at voting sites.
The measure comes after President Trump told reporters in May that he would not rule out sending National Guard units or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to polling locations, stating, “I’d do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections.” Slotkin’s legislation is backed by a group of Democratic senators, including Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Mark Kelly (Ariz.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), and Raphael Warnock (Ga.).
Under the proposed law, the president would need to provide Congress with 48 hours’ notice before any deployment, along with intelligence, a legal justification, and evidence that state or local authorities cannot handle a threat on their own. The bill aims to close what Slotkin calls a loophole in current law, which she says only permits the president to deploy federal forces “to repel armed enemies of the United States.”
“Federal law has protected polling places from military interference since the Civil War for a reason,” Kelly said in a statement supporting the bill. “President Trump has made clear he thinks he can ignore those limits. We’re making sure he can’t.” Slotkin argued the legislation is necessary to prevent Trump from “weaponizing our military and armed federal officers to interfere in our elections,” referencing the president’s encouragement of supporters to overturn the 2020 election results.
The push comes amid broader tensions over election security. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin have backed sending immigration agents to voting sites to prevent non-citizens from casting ballots, despite scant evidence of such fraud. Democrats contend that the presence of law enforcement could intimidate voters. “The only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation,” Mullin said in March, adding, “There will be a reason for us to be there, and it’ll be known why we’re there.”
Slotkin and Kelly previously clashed with the Trump administration over a video they filmed with three other lawmakers urging soldiers not to follow illegal orders. The new bill builds on those concerns, aiming to impose checks on executive power. The legislation also echoes broader debates about federal authority and election integrity, as seen in recent actions like a federal judge ordering the Trump administration to restore removed national park displays and a judge upholding a former Wisconsin judge’s conviction for aiding an immigrant evade ICE.
As the midterms approach, the Protect Our Polls Act is likely to spark further debate over the balance between election security and voter intimidation. The bill now heads to committee, where it faces an uncertain path in a divided Congress.
