Defense Secretary Hegseth Makes False Claims About Military Deployment at Polling Locations

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made false claims during congressional testimonies last week, incorrectly stating that President Biden deployed troops to polling locations in 15 states during the 2024 election.

The claims first emerged during Hegseth’s Wednesday appearance before the House Armed Services Committee when Democratic Rep. Jill Tokuda questioned whether he would comply with a hypothetical order from President Donald Trump to deploy troops to polling places in future elections. Such deployments would violate federal law prohibiting federal troops at voting locations unless “necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”

After stating he rejected the notion Trump would issue unlawful orders, Hegseth claimed: “I will note that in 2024, troops were depl… – that was Joe Biden by the way, Joe Biden – were deployed to polling locations in 15 states.”

An investigation by CNN revealed this assertion is demonstrably false. All National Guard activations connected to the 2024 election were ordered by state governors, not by President Biden. Furthermore, all 12 states that responded to CNN’s inquiries confirmed that no troops were deployed to polling locations.

Instead, Guard personnel in these states worked behind the scenes, primarily assisting with election cybersecurity or serving as internal liaisons between agencies. In many cases, they remained at state emergency operations centers or military facilities, completely out of public view.

Iowa National Guard spokesperson Jackie Schmillen explained their typical role: “We help in a cybersecurity capacity with any major election. But we never leave our state emergency operations center.” She emphasized, “We have never gone to a polling station as part of an election.”

Similarly, Arizona National Guard spokesperson Erin Hannigan confirmed: “The Arizona National Guard did not deploy National Guardsmen to polling locations in 2024.” Arizona activated only two personnel in a standby role to assist the state Department of Homeland Security in the event of a cyber incident, though no assistance was ultimately requested.

Despite being challenged on this false claim by Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Hegseth doubled down, repeating: “By the way, in 2024, under the Biden administration, 15 states did deploy troops to polling stations.”

CNN reached out to all 15 states mentioned in a Stars and Stripes article that had reported National Guard activations on Election Day. Twelve responded, and all confirmed no troops were deployed to polling locations. Three states – Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington – clarified they hadn’t actually activated their Guards for the election despite being included in preliminary reports.

State officials were unequivocal in their responses. Delaware reported 15 National Guard members assisted with cybersecurity support, working either remotely or from the state’s technology office. Pennsylvania deployed six Guard personnel as liaison officers to emergency management agencies, but none at polling places.

Texas National Guard members “were not at polling stations” but instead remained “on standby status at a state military installation” with two additional service members providing liaison support at an emergency operations center.

Oregon officials pointed out that the claim was particularly nonsensical for their state, with spokesperson Luke Harkins noting: “Oregon is a 100% vote-by-mail state and has been for over two decades.”

Interestingly, there was a recent general election where some states did deploy National Guard troops to polling locations – the 2020 election during the Trump administration. In that case, some troops, many out of uniform, assisted with various duties when election workers couldn’t perform their roles due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the 2024 election, however, senior National Guard Bureau official Ellis Hopkins had made clear the day before the election that of the 10 states with Guard personnel supporting the election, “None of them are in a civil disturbance or civil response mode. They’re in general support or in supporting cyber networks.”

While Trump has not stated any plans to send troops to polling locations in future elections, Hegseth’s false claims about the Biden administration’s actions raise concerns about the accuracy of information being presented in congressional testimony by senior defense officials.