Maine's Republican nominee for governor plans to request that federal law enforcement officers be stationed at polling locations across the state for this fall's midterm elections, according to audio obtained by The . Speaking at an Aug. 20 gathering in Arundel, Bobby Charles informed supporters he would ask Tom Homan, the White House border czar, to send U.S. Marshals and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to voting sites ahead of Election Day.
The recording was first reported by the Bangor Daily News. "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." "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," Charles said, according to the audio. On Wednesday, he explained his comments 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.
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. When reached for comment on Wednesday, DHS 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. Democratic state officials have been concerned about the possibility of immigration agents showing up near polling places on Election Day or during early voting. Several states have taken actions this year to guard against it.
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