Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged the U.S. military’s 2.1 million service members and their families to vote in the midterms, citing a 2024 presidential election analysis he said found 300,000 troops unregistered to vote.
In a Sept. 25 video, Hegseth compared the figure with ballot totals in Detroit, Boston, Milwaukee and Seattle. He told commanders to “get out the vote,” but said they should encourage participation, not direct service members’ choices.
Hegseth said service members could use a standardized federal postcard to register and request a ballot, regardless of home state or duty status. Forward-deployed personnel whose regular ballots are delayed could use a federal write-in absentee ballot.
