WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of House Democrats introduced legislation Tuesday that would require congressional approval before a president could deploy troops or armed federal agents to polling places, adding a new procedural barrier to an authority already constrained by federal election law.
The Protect Our Polls Act was introduced by Reps. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, George Whitesides of California, and Pat Ryan of New York. Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan has introduced a Senate version.
The proposal would require an administration to give Congress intelligence, a legal justification, deployment plans, and evidence that state and local authorities could not address the threat themselves at least 48 hours before deploying troops or armed federal personnel to an election site.
Congress would then have authority over whether such a deployment could proceed. The legislation would also prohibit military personnel and federal agencies from accessing election records preserved under federal law.
Existing law already sharply restricts the use of federal forces at election sites. Under 18 U.S.C. § 592, federal civil or military officials may not order, bring or keep troops or armed personnel at a place where a general or special election is held unless necessary to repel “armed enemies of the United States.” Violations can carry prison terms of as long as five years.
The legislation would build an advance congressional review process around that existing exception rather than create the underlying prohibition on armed forces at polling places.
Houlahan, whose 6th Congressional District includes Chester County and part of Berks County, tied the legislation to concerns about whether federal forces could be deployed during the November elections.
“When I asked a senior military official whether troops could be deployed to polling places this November, I could not get a commitment that they would not be,” Houlahan said. “We should not have to rely on the restraint of this or any President or administration when something as fundamental as the right to vote is at stake.”
The lawmakers also framed the proposal as a response to actions and statements by President Donald Trump and his administration concerning federal authority over elections. Those assertions represent the sponsors’ political rationale for the bill rather than provisions of the legislation itself.
Whitesides said the measure would “require Congressional approval before the President can make any kind of decision to deploy armed agents to polling places.”
Federal restrictions on armed personnel at polling places date to the post-Civil War period. The current statute retains the exception for forces necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States, while separately allowing members of the armed forces to vote where they are otherwise legally qualified.
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