Bobby Charles, the Republican nominee for governor in Maine, is calling on the Trump administration to station federal immigration enforcement officers and U.S. Marshals at polling locations across the state during the upcoming midterm elections.
In audio obtained by the Bangor Daily News, Charles said he plans to appeal directly to White House border czar Tom Homan to deploy the agents. Speaking at an event with the Maine Young Republicans last Thursday, Charles said, "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."
The nominee also questioned whether "illegals who are being paid money" would "like" the presence of federal agents at polling sites. However, there is no documented evidence that undocumented immigrants receive payments to vote, and federal and state laws prohibit noncitizens from casting ballots.
Charles, a former Reagan White House staffer and State Department official under George W. Bush, won the GOP primary in June against seven other candidates. He faces Democrat Hannah Pingree, the former speaker of the Maine House and daughter of Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), in the general election. The Cook Political Report rates the race as solidly Democratic.
The Maine Democratic Party swiftly condemned Charles's remarks. Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson called him a "MAGA extremist" and said the proposal is "deeply alarming" and "likely illegal." In a statement, Murphy-Anderson added, "This is a blatant attempt to intimidate voters and yet another reason Bobby Charles is too extreme for Maine."
In-person early voting in Maine begins 30 days before the Nov. 3 Election Day, according to vote.org. The proposal comes as President Trump continues to push unsubstantiated claims that undocumented immigrants are voting en masse, despite such incidents being exceedingly rare.
Trump has repeatedly urged Republican senators to eliminate the legislative filibuster to pass a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote. During his confirmation hearing in March, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE officers would only be present at polling places "if there was a specific threat," not for "intimidation." Mullin also noted that noncitizens cannot vote in federal or state elections, adding, "I don't understand what the concern is about enforcement of immigration at polling places anyways."
A DHS spokesperson pointed The Hill to those remarks and stated, "Elections exist for the American people, not illegal aliens, to choose their leaders." The White House has not commented on Charles's request.
So far, the Justice Department has sent more than 80 election monitors to over 200 polling locations in seven states under the Voting Rights Act. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Civil Rights Division, told Bloomberg that the department plans to deploy a record 1,000 monitors for the midterms. Federal law prohibits military deployment at polling places except to quell armed rebellion, and while ICE and the Marshals are not Defense Department components, the Brennan Center for Justice argues that sending armed federal agents to polling sites is illegal.
