Federal law already makes it a crime to order or keep troops or armed men at a place where an election is being held, punishable by up to five years in prison and disqualification from federal office. That line has held through every contested election in living memory, because a voter who has to walk past armed federal agents to reach a ballot box is not voting freely, whatever their status. This year the signals have been mixed about whether federal personnel will be near polling places, and a draft executive order declaring a national emergency and asserting federal power over the election has circulated among the president's allies. Elections here are run by states and counties, counted in public, and certified locally. That is the design, not a loophole. Oppose any emergency federal takeover of the 2026 election and any deployment of armed federal personnel at or near polling places, and back enforcement of the ban already on the books.
Federal law already makes it a crime to order or keep troops or armed men at a place where an election is being held, punishable by up to five years in prison and disqualification from federal office. That line has held through every contested election in living memory, because a voter who has to walk past armed federal agents to reach a ballot box is not voting freely, whatever their status. This year the signals have been mixed about whether federal personnel will be near polling places, and a draft executive order declaring a national emergency and asserting federal power over the election has circulated among the president's allies. Elections here are run by states and counties, counted in public, and certified locally. That is the design, not a loophole. Oppose any emergency federal takeover of the 2026 election and any deployment of armed federal personnel at or near polling places, and back enforcement of the ban already on the books.
