A growing chorus of retired military officers, legal scholars and Democratic lawmakers is warning that President Trump could try to use the U.S. armed forces to influence November's midterm elections, and they say the guardrails meant to stop it are thinner than most Americans assume.

Several dozen former military lawyers have sent letters to Congress this month laying out a specific fear: that troops, National Guard units or federal agents could be stationed at or near polling places on Election Day, which is now less than 50 days away. A coalition of retired generals, civil society groups and Democratic members of Congress has been pushing for public assurances that no such deployment is planned, according to NPR's reporting on the mounting concern.

What the law actually allows

Legal experts say the president has essentially no lawful path to put troops or armed federal officers at polling sites. Election administration is a state and local function, and federal law bars military personnel from interfering in civilian elections. Even the Insurrection Act, which Trump has invoked or threatened to invoke in other contexts this year, would not give troops authority to enforce election rules, according to an analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice. Courts have also pushed back hard on the administration's recent National Guard deployments; the Supreme Court in December let stand a lower court's temporary restraining order blocking troops from being sent into Illinois.

THERE ARE NO PLANS TO SEND U.S. TROOPS TO THE POLLS.

That line comes from Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has publicly tried to tamp down the speculation. But that hasn't stopped the worry from spreading among election officials and voting-rights groups, who note the administration has surprised courts and Congress before with the scope of its domestic deployments.

The concern has been building for weeks. Reporting in mid-September first surfaced warnings from voting-rights advocates and retired military leaders that the administration's pattern of deploying Guard troops domestically — including into American cities over the objections of governors — could extend to Election Day itself.

Democratic lawmakers say the stakes go beyond any single deployment. Even the appearance of soldiers or federal agents near a polling place, they argue, could suppress turnout in the communities where it happens, regardless of whether it's technically legal. Civil rights organizations have already filed suit in recent days seeking to keep armed federal agents away from polling locations altogether.

With early voting set to begin in several states within weeks, the administration has not issued a detailed public statement ruling out any military or federal law enforcement presence at polling places. The Pentagon's assurance that there is "no plan" leaves open whether that could change, and voting-rights groups say they intend to keep pressing for a firmer, written commitment before ballots start being cast.