New Jersey National Guard activated to work in civilian clothes at election sites

In a move that experts termed unusual and legal, members of the New Jersey National Guard worked in civilian clothes this week while officially activated to help civilian officials at election sites.

More than 370 of the state's National Guard soldiers and airmen were dispatched to work with election officials in 19 counties, New Jersey state military officials announced Tuesday.

"This state active-duty mission is being undertaken at the request of the County Boards of Elections," according to the New Jersey National Guard. And, while New Jersey's Guard members previously have pitched in at election sites, this marks their first such role in a general election - and deviates from the normal practise whereby National Guard members wear their military uniforms when on active status.

Photographs posted to the New Jersey National Guard website and Facebook page depict men and women members at the election sites in various attire, including polo shirts, tee shirts, cardigans, and buttoned-down Oxford shirts - but not military uniforms.

"It's definitely peculiar," an active duty officer with the Judge Advocate General Corps (the military's version of a lawyer) told Just the News. "I don't immediately see any statutes that make it illegal, but it's not something you normally see with activated Guard."

The reason for the move, a second JAG officer said, likely is rooted in public relations.

"They probably don't want people to think that the military has taken over their election." But, the officer noted: "They can't do that anyway, as per U.S. law."

Guard members were brought in not for security, but to assist in processing vote-by-mail ballots, the New Jersey organization said in a statement. "This support is an extension of the Guard’s active role in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in New Jersey," the group wrote.

The service members have given "fabulous help," election official Evelynn Caterson said in a video produced by the New Jersey National Guard.

New Jersey state military officials did not return calls from Just the News asking for comment.