Republican candidate wants ICE agents at polling stations during November election

Bobby Charles, the Republican candidate for governor of Maine, wants Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents present at polling stations ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. His proposal has drawn opposition from Democrats and Maine’s top election official.

Charles said he would ask Tom Homan to place ICE agents and federal marshals at voting centers three or four weeks before Election Day. He argued that the measure would prevent people without U.S. citizenship from taking part in the election, while ensuring that every resident legally entitled to vote could cast a ballot without outside pressure.

Charles won the Republican nomination in Maine’s June primary and is running to succeed Democratic Governor Janet Mills, who cannot seek another term because of the state’s constitutional term limits. He will face Democrat Hannah Pingree, a former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. Both candidates are campaigning across the state for moderate and independent voters.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows rejected Charles’s proposal. Citing federal law, she said armed personnel and immigration agents are strictly barred from polling stations. The Maine Democratic Party called the plan an attempt to intimidate voters and said militarizing polling places would violate election law and lack constitutional support.

Department of Homeland Security spokespeople also ruled out deploying personnel to voting centers. Immigration and Border Patrol officials told Congress that their agencies have no role in guarding polling places.