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Politics

3 min read

Automatic military draft registration takes effect in December. Here’s how it would work

By
Kaanita Iyer

Updated Apr 9, 2026, 3:25 PM ET
Published Apr 9, 2026, 3:25 PM ET

PUBLISHED Apr 9, 2026, 3:25 PM ET

US Army soldiers raise their right hands as President Donald Trump conducts during a re-enlistment ceremony in Washington, DC, in June 2025.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/File

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Young, eligible men will be automatically registered for the military draft pool starting in December as part of a measure tucked into the annual defense policy bill Congress signed into law late last year.

Men ages 18 to 26 must already register for selective service in case a draft is required. The last time a draft was in effect was February 1973, during the Vietnam War.

Automatic registration is already in place in 46 states and territories, according to the Selective Service System’s 2024 report. The SSS proposed a rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs late last month to implement the practice nationwide.

The nationwide measure has no connection to the ongoing war with Iran and was passed with bipartisan support months before the current conflict with the country. But the Trump administration has declined to rule out the possibility of putting US troops on the ground, and the war has led to renewed attention on the draft policy.

CNN has reached out to the Selective Service for more information about the proposed rule.

Here’s what you need to know about automatic Selective Service registration.

Who will be registered and how will it work?

According to the National Defense Authorization Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in December, the automatic registration will apply to male US citizens and “every other male person” in the country between the ages of 18 and 26.

The mandatory registration applies to green-card holders, refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented men. Those on a nonimmigrant visas are exempt.

Currently, in states that haven’t enacted automatic registration, men must register “within 30 days of (their) 18th birthday,” according to the SSS website. The agency “accepts late registrations up until” a man’s 26th birthday.

It is a felony to not register for selective service and can result in the loss of certain benefits, like some student loans and federal jobs. It’s also a violation of the Military Selective Service Act, which could lead to imprisonment up to five years and a fine of up to $250,000.

Some places, like Arizona and Delaware, and Washington, DC, automatically register eligible men when they apply for driver’s license or another form of state identification. Meanwhile, in New York, the application for driver’s license includes a section that allows eligible men to register for selective service.

According to the SSS’ 2023 report, over 60% of registration came from state motor vehicle departments.

Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who sponsored the automatic selective service language, told CNN in a statement, “Making registration automatic, not only saves taxpayer dollars by eliminating the need to advertise but finally ensures that young men are not unknowingly penalized.”

In the statement, Houlahan stressed that the measure has bipartisan support.

The NDAA passed with bipartisan votes in the House and Senate.

What happens in a draft?

Congress would have to approve of a draft before one ever took place. And not all registered men would be enlisted to serve. There would be a lottery, in which birthdays and numbers are randomly chosen.

People whose 20th birthdays fall in the year of the draft would be the first to get induction orders, followed, in order, by the following age groups: 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 19 and those who are more than six months past their 18th birthday.

People who are selected would be allowed to make a request for exemption or deferment. All men remaining would then go through “physical, mental, and moral evaluation” and those who demonstrate that they are fit to serve will be selected for service, according to SSS.

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