National Guard officials offered an explanation Friday after video of troops standing near a Washington, D.C., ballot drop box sparked alarm.
The troops, the officials say, were simply taking a break during a patrol.
Two Guard officials told The Washington Post that the soldiers filmed Thursday in Foggy Bottom were part of a larger patrol and were not assigned to guard the box. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
“They’re not there to guard the boxes, and that will be reiterated to the soldiers, to, you know, be more aware of where they’re standing,” one official told the Post.
The official said troops receive training about avoiding ballot boxes.
The explanation followed complaints to the D.C. Board of Elections, which asked the Guard to restrict troop placement near drop boxes and other voting locations. The city’s 55 drop boxes opened Friday morning.
But the alarm from the viral video still lingered.
“ARMED TROOPS AT AN ACTIVE BALLOT DROP BOX. WHO ORDERED THIS?” former Republican Rep. Joe Walsh wrote on social media Friday afternoon.
Federal law prohibits placing “any troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held,” the Post reported.
"Voter intimidation there is illegal,” Walsh added of election sites and ballot boxes. “The presence of armed federal guards is intimidation.”