National Guard soldiers are helping monitor ballot boxes in seven Washington counties amid heightened tensions over voting, including incidents targeting ballot boxes and election workers.

The unarmed soldiers, dressed in plainclothes, are intended to maintain an unobtrusive presence. Still, their deployment underscores the increased security concerns surrounding the 2026 midterm election.

Gov. Bob Ferguson offered the aid to county elections officials earlier this month in a letter citing the “highly charged atmosphere.”

Seven counties — King, Snohomish, Pierce, Thurston, Clark, Lewis and Island — have accepted the help, according to the governor’s office.

The National Guard troops are meant as an “Election Neighborhood Watch” and will “not interact with voters dropping off their ballots,” Ferguson wrote in his letter to county elections officials.

The mobilization is relative small — about 100 total National Guard soldiers, according to Karina Shagren, spokesperson for the state Military Department.

In 2024, then-Gov. Jay Inslee activated the National Guard to assist after a ballot box was hit with an incendiary device in Vancouver, Wash., destroying hundreds of ballots. The arsonist has not been caught.

Ferguson pointed to that incident and to recent reports of letters containing white powder sent to several officials, including the secretary of state’s office.

“Amid these recent developments and the highly charged atmosphere of this election, my administration is taking every precaution to ensure that every vote counts and that counties have the resources they need to monitor and respond to potential threats,” Ferguson wrote.

State officials and the Trump administration have clashed over the security of mail balloting in recent weeks, with the acting U.S. Attorney for Western Washington accusing the state of allowing hundreds of noncitizens to register and vote — a charge Secretary of State Steve Hobbs has disputed.

In King County, about 20 National Guard personnel are assisting with drop box monitoring, said Halei Watkins, a spokesperson for King County Elections.

“We are just thinking of these folks as extra eyes and ears,” Watkins said, adding “it’s just undeniable that we are in a higher threat environment than we have been before.”

She said the National Guard presence should be “pretty nondescript — in fact voters shouldn’t really notice them out there.”

Washington voters are increasingly relying on ballot drop boxes amid reports of the Postal Service delaying deliveries and the Trump administration attempting to undermine the mail-vote system.

Hobbs and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, flagged the Postal Service issues at a news conference last month, noting sluggish postal deliveries before the August primary had led to thousands of ballots getting disqualified as late.

State and county officials have urged voters to drop off their ballots in person, instead of putting them in the mail.

Voters are responding to that message.

As of Friday morning, more than 1.5 million ballots had been returned for the Nov. 3 election, out of more than 5 million registered voters — with nearly 70% coming in via drop boxes, according to the secretary of state’s office.

Ballots must be postmarked or placed in drop boxes by 8 p.m. Tuesday to be counted.

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