Maine’s Republican nominee for governor Bobby Charles announced plans to request ICE agents and U.S. Marshals at polling places for the fall midterm elections.
The Arundel Event and the Proposed Federal Deployment
Bobby Charles Announces Plan for ICE Agents
During an August 20 gathering of a Maine Young Republicans chapter in Arundel, Bobby Charles outlined an unconventional strategy for the upcoming midterm elections according to audio obtained by the Associated Press. The audio was first reported by the Bangor Daily News. Charles told supporters that he planned to appeal directly to federal authorities to place immigration and law enforcement personnel at voting booths in the weeks leading up to Election Day.
Charles identified a personal connection to advance the request, noting his relationship with White House border czar Tom Homan. Here’s my secret,
Charles told members of a Maine Young Republicans chapter. I have a friend named Tom Homan. Tom and I used to get on Fox all the time together. Tom’s an awesome guy.
Charles described plans to seek the deployment of U.S. Marshals and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents three or four weeks before voters cast their ballots, stating: I’m going to ask Tom, I’m going to actually — three or four weeks before the election, maybe three — I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and Marshals to be at our voting booths.
Campaign Clarification and Official Pushback
Shenna Bellows Rejects Proposal From Bobby Charles
Following public reporting of the audio, Charles explained his comments on Wednesday by saying state and local authorities who manage elections should have an open line of communication with federal authorities if needed to prevent violence at a voting place, in order to prevent intimidation at a voting place and in order to prevent illegality at a voting place.
He said his point was that Maine authorities should do everything legally possible to prevent illegal voting in the state. Everybody who is legally entitled to vote should be free from any intimidation and should be able to vote,
he said in a statement released by his campaign. Anybody who is not legally entitled to vote should not be voting.
The proposal met swift resistance from state election leadership and the Maine Democratic Party, which described Charles’ plan as likely illegal. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who ran for governor this year but lost in the Democratic primary, rejected the idea outright, pointing out that ICE agents are prohibited by law from being at polling places and that Maine residents can expect a free and secure election in November. Bellows dismissed the statements, stating: The political rhetoric coming from Mr. Charles is just politics, but it won’t change the laws or the Constitution.
Federal Stance on Polling Place Enforcement
Department of Homeland Security Addresses Polling Place Deployment
The Department of Homeland Security did not address whether department officials had held or planned to hold conversations with political campaigns about election security. DHS officials have previously said they do not have plans to send ICE agents to polling places. A Homeland Security spokesperson emphasized that voting administration belongs strictly to citizens in a statement to the AP, stating: Elections exist for the American people, not illegal aliens, to choose their leaders.
Agency officials previously confirmed to state election chiefs in February that immigration enforcement officers would not operate at voting precincts, with a DHS official telling a group of secretaries of state that any suggestion that ICE will be present at any polling location is simply not true,
according to several secretaries who were part of the conversation. That followed congressional testimony from the heads of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, who both answered “No, sir” when asked if they are involved in any efforts to guard voting precincts.
The controversy unfolds against a broader national backdrop. President Donald Trump and Republican allies are fixated on voting by noncitizens, as President Donald Trump continues to sow doubt about the security of elections in U.S. elections and takes unprecedented measures to intervene in election administration. The Constitution gives states, and sometimes Congress, the authority to set election rules but grants no such power to the president. A central part of his attacks is to claim widespread fraud through voting by noncitizens. But those claims are vastly overstated. Voting by noncitizens is exceptionally rare and is punishable as a felony, with deportation as one potential penalty. Nevertheless, Trump has been pushing Congress to pass a bill that would require voters to show documentary proof of citizenship to vote in the upcoming midterms and signed an executive order directing the Postal Service to send mail ballots only to those on an approved list of verified voters. Democratic state officials have been concerned about the possibility of immigration agents showing up near polling places on Election Day or during early voting, and several states have taken actions this year to guard against it.
Broader Political and Legal Strains
Texas and Minnesota Standoff Over Federal Agent Extradition
The debate over federal enforcement near voting infrastructure echoes separate, high-stakes jurisdictional clashes currently playing out between state governments and federal agencies, such as an ongoing standoff between Texas and Minnesota over the extradition of a federal agent charged with shooting an immigrant in Minneapolis this year that has exposed a legal gray area that some experts worry could turn previously routine requests for state-to-state prisoner transfers into yet another political battleground.
As campaigns prepare for the fall midterms, state officials across multiple jurisdictions continue to evaluate security protocols to protect voters from perceived intimidation while navigating the complex boundaries between state election oversight and federal authority.
