Democrats Sued to Find Out Whether Trump Will Send Armed Officers to Election Sites

Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Democrats Sue to Find Out if Trump Will Send Armed Officers to Election Sites In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, the D.N.C. sought to compel the government to say whether it plans to deploy armed federal officers in this year’s elections. Listen · 3:45 min Share full article By Nick Corasaniti March 10, 2026, 7:44 a.m. ET The Democratic National Committee sued the Trump administration on Tuesday to try to compel the government to say whether it was planning to put armed federal agents or military personnel at polling places or election offices this year. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., says that 11 separate Freedom of Information Act requests filed in October to the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense have prompted no meaningful response, a violation of the law. “To ensure that the American people obtain timely knowledge of potential threats to free and fair elections and to enable the DNC to take appropriate action to ensure voting rights are protected, the DNC now seeks this Court’s aid to enforce” Freedom of Information Act requirements, the lawsuit states. It is possible that no such records exist within the Trump administration; the lawsuit is simply accusing the agencies of failing to respond to the information requests. There are no current reported plans for the administration to use armed agents or troops in the upcoming elections. United States federal law bans military personnel or other “armed” agents from being “at any place where a general or special election is held.” But fears that the Trump administration might disregard that law have percolated for months among Democrats and voting rights groups, who point to his publicly stated desires to “nationalize” elections and his stated regret over not having seized voting machines in the 2020 election. Other actions taken by the administration, including a raid in late Jan...