Maine GOP governor nominee plans to ask Trump admin to send ICE to the polls

Maine Republican gubernatorial nominee Bobby Charles said he plans to ask the Trump administration to send ICE agents and U.S. Marshals to polling places in November.

The Associated Press published audio Wednesday of Charles discussing the plan during an event with Maine Young Republicans last week.

Charles told the group that he planned to appeal directly to White House border czar Tom Homan, whom he described as a friend.

“I have a friend named Tom Homan. Tom and I used to be on Fox all the time together. Tom’s an awesome guy. I’m going to ask Tom,” Charles said. “I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and marshals to be at our voting booths.”

Charles said he would make the request three or four weeks before the election.

After the recording became public, his campaign said his goal was to prevent illegal voting, violence and intimidation at polling places and that Maine officials should do everything legally possible to stop people who are not eligible from voting.

But putting armed federal agents at polling places would violate federal safeguards designed to keep federal force out of elections.

“The Constitution and federal law prohibit ICE agents from being stationed at polling places,” Maine Secretary if State Shenna Bellows (D) told Democracy Docket. “As Secretary of State and Maine’s Chief Elections Official, we’re not going to stand for this lawless and reckless suggestion.”

“He’s trying to scare people away from voting,” Bellows added. “Clearly he wants to lower voter turnout.”

Federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 592, makes it a crime for a federal official to bring or keep troops or armed personnel at a place where an election is being held, with a narrow exception for repelling armed enemies of the United States. The Department of Justice’s own guidance has also long warned against federal investigators operating around open polling places.

Charles’ remarks come as President Donald Trump and members of his administration have repeatedly entertained the prospect of federal immigration enforcement around elections, even as the Department of Homeland Security has publicly said it does not plan to station ICE agents at polling places.

Attorney General Todd Blanche, while serving as acting attorney general earlier this year, brushed aside concerns about the idea during an interview about ICE and the midterms.

“I am not sure of the uproar of the risk of having a Border Patrol or an ICE agent at a polling location,” Blanche said. “And so what’s the risk?”

One of the many risks often cited by election officials and voting rights advocates is voter intimidation.

Armed immigration agents near voting sites could discourage eligible voters from approaching the polls, particularly in minority and immigrant communities. Federal law separately prohibits intimidation of voters.

The justification offered by Charles and Trump officials also rests on claims about noncitizen voting that have repeatedly been exaggerated. Noncitizens are already barred from voting in federal elections, and documented instances of noncitizen voting are exceptionally rare.

DHS officials have previously told state election officials that ICE will not be present at polling locations. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, meanwhile, has said agents would only be at a polling place in response to a specific threat.

Charles, a former George W. Bush administration official, faces Democratic nominee Hannah Pingree in November.