Washington DC - Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently issued a message urging military service members to register to vote by mail, though President Donald Trump has sought to outlaw the practice.

In a nearly two-minute video shared in an X post on Friday, Hegseth revealed that a recent report from the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) found that around 300,000 service members were not registered to vote in the 2024 election.

He then urged troops to visit the program's website to register for a mail-in ballot.

"Regardless of your home state or current duty status, you can use a standardized federal postcard to register and request a ballot, and if you're forward deployed and your standard ballot is delayed, you can use the federal write-in absentee ballot," Hegseth explained.

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"All of these processes are straightforward and protected by law."

Hegseth made sure to note to commanders, "You're not telling them who to vote for. You're just telling them to vote."

Not everyone viewed his plea in a positive light, with one X user who claims to be a "true Republican" replying to Hegseth's video, writing, "You know Pete.. most of your so-called warriors are going to vote against Donald Trump's MAGA idiots. And the next thing you know dude, you are going to be impeached and removed from your position because you are completely incompetent. THANK GOD!"

Another X user said, "[Should] of thought about that vote when you started the iran war, and killing innocent children, and American soldiers who shouldn’t be over there. The GOP will lose because true republicans (not the maga cult) is seeing through your bulls*** lies and isn’t voting for you."

The message comes as Trump has been aggressively pushing for drastic changes to mail-in voting, which he has claimed, without evidence, is used by Democrats to cheat in elections.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court blocked Trump's attempt to seize control of the elections, though he has vowed to seek other avenues.

The secretary's remarks also come as Republicans are struggling in polls ahead of the midterms, in which they could lose their thin majority to Democrats.

A recent report shifted 15 House races to favor Democrats, and projected the party - which only needs three seats to flip - could win between five and 15.