In a video posted Sept. 25, Secretary of Conflict Pete Hegseth urged service members and their households to register to vote within the upcoming midterm elections as President Donald Trump’s social gathering continues to run behind Democrats within the polls.
“No matter your private home state or present responsibility standing, you should use a standardized federal postcard to register and request a poll, and should you’re ahead deployed and your commonplace poll is delayed, you should use the federal write-in absentee poll,” Hegseth stated. “All of those processes are easy and guarded by regulation.”
Within the practically two-minute video, Hegseth additionally pointed service members to the Federal Voting Help Program (FVAP) web site, the place they will be taught extra about their proper to vote. Moreover, he had a message to commanders: “You are not telling them who to vote for. You are simply telling them to vote.”
The secretary’s video comes as he has campaigned for numerous Republican candidates forward of November’s midterm elections.
A slight drop
Hegseth’s plea to service members comes as active-duty navy voter registration dipped barely in 2024 in contrast with 2020.
In response to FVAP’s most up-to-date report, in 2024, about 67% of active-duty navy members had been registered to vote in that yr’s election, a drop of three proportion factors from 2020. About 71% of the 1.3 million active-duty navy members are eligible to solid an absentee poll with “particular protections as a result of they’re stationed away from their voting residence.”
Hegseth’s campaigning
Within the lead-up to November’s midterms, Hegseth has been lively on the marketing campaign path.
Again in Might, he traveled to Kentucky to help Rep. Thomas Massie’s major challenger, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein.
“Conflict fighters perceive mission, they perceive teamwork, they perceive loyalty, and so they perceive that in the course of a battle, you do not weaken your personal aspect to advance to the target, and that is what Ed Gallrein understands, as a result of he has lived it,” Hegseth stated.
Gallrein went on to beat Massie within the Republican major and is favored to win the seat in a deeply crimson district.
Not too long ago, on Sept. 15, Massie launched articles of impeachment towards Hegseth, accusing the previous Fox Information host of betraying his oath of workplace and abusing his powers as a navy chief. As of Sept. 25, neither Hegseth nor the Pentagon has responded to Massie’s allegations.
USA TODAY’s Zachary Schermele and Miles J. Herszenhorn contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending information reporter for USA TODAY. Attain him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and observe him on X @fern_cerv_.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Pete Hegseth urges troops to register to vote forward of midterms
