Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., plans to introduce legislation Thursday that would prohibit presidents from deploying armed military members or federal agents to polling sites during American elections without congressional approval.
The bill, called the "Protect Our Polls Act," is co-sponsored by five Democratic senators representing electoral battleground states: Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
What the Right Is Saying
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has pushed back on proposals to federalize elections following Trump's remarks. The White House had not provided comment at time of publication.
When asked about potential deployments in April, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called such scenarios a "gotcha hypothetical." A senior Department of Homeland Security official told state election officials in February that ICE agents would not appear at polling sites during this year's midterm elections.
Republicans have generally defended executive authority on matters of federal law enforcement and national security. The debate over presidential powers to deploy federal personnel remains a point of contention between the two parties.
What the Left Is Saying
Democratic sponsors argue the legislation is necessary to prevent potential voter intimidation at polling places. The proposal comes after President Donald Trump said in a podcast appearance that Republicans "ought to nationalize the voting" in at least 15 locations, later pointing to cities in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania as areas where Republicans should take over election systems.
"The idea that a president would send troops or armed agents to polling places to intimidate voters is un-American and illegal," Kelly said in a statement. "Federal law has protected polling places from military interference since the Civil War for a reason. President Trump has made clear he thinks he can ignore those limits. We're making sure he can't."
Slotkin has raised concerns for months about whether Trump would deploy armed personnel to polling sites. In a January interview with The New York Times, Trump did not dispute reporting that he considered deploying the National Guard to seize ballot boxes during the 2020 election, which he falsely claims to have won.
"I should have," Trump said in that interview, while also questioning whether the National Guard was "sophisticated enough" to handle such a request.
What the Numbers Show
Under current federal law, specifically the Posse Comitatus Act, presidents are already prohibited from deploying armed military members to domestic polling sites, with one exception: "to repel armed enemies of the United States."
The FBI executed a search warrant at an elections facility in Fulton County, Georgia, in January, seeking records from the 2020 presidential election. The Justice Department has sought to obtain voter rolls from states but has been rebuffed by federal judges in Oregon, California and Michigan.
Trump previously deployed members of the National Guard to cities run by Democratic mayors over their objections during his current term.
The Bottom Line
The Protect Our Polls Act would add a layer of congressional oversight requiring legislative approval before armed forces could be deployed at polling places, even for defensive purposes. NBC News has reached out to the White House for comment on the bill.
The legislation faces an uncertain path in Congress and would require significant Republican support to advance. What happens next: the bill is expected to be formally introduced Thursday, where it will need to clear committee before reaching a floor vote.