Republican Maine gubernatorial candidate Bobby Charles has said he plans to ask the Trump administration to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and U.S. Marshals to polling locations during the state’s upcoming election.
Charles made the remarks during an event organised by the Maine Young Republicans on Thursday, according to audio obtained by the Bangor Daily News. He said he intended to approach White House border czar Tom Homan about the proposal weeks before Election Day.
“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.
The Republican candidate also questioned whether undocumented immigrants allegedly receiving money would welcome the presence of immigration officers and Marshals at polling stations.
However, there is no documented evidence that undocumented immigrants are being paid to vote. Federal and state laws also prohibit noncitizens from voting in elections.
Charles’ campaign manager, Dale Crafts Jr., defended the proposal, saying the candidate would seek every lawful measure available to prevent illegal voting.
“Bobby will do everything legally possible to prevent illegal voting in Maine, to make sure that Maine elections are decided by legal Maine voters,” Crafts said.
He added, “Especially as this is now a sanctuary state, he will ask all legal assistance from DOJ [the Justice Department] and Homeland to assure Maine experiences no illegal voting.”
Charles, who previously worked in the White House during Ronald Reagan’s presidency and at the State Department under George W. Bush, won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in June after defeating seven other candidates.
He will face former Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree, the Democratic nominee, in the November 3 election. Pingree is the daughter of Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree. The Cook Political Report currently rates the race as solidly Democratic.
The Maine Democratic Party criticised Charles over his proposal. Its executive director, Devon Murphy-Anderson, described him as a “MAGA extremist” and said his plan to have immigration officers at polling places was “deeply alarming” and “likely illegal.”
Murphy-Anderson added, “This is a blatant attempt to intimidate voters and yet another reason Bobby Charles is too extreme for Maine.”
Maine’s in-person early voting begins 30 days before Election Day.
Charles’ comments come amid continued claims from President Donald Trump that undocumented immigrants are voting in large numbers, despite a lack of evidence showing widespread illegal voting by noncitizens.
Trump has also repeatedly urged Republican lawmakers to support legislation requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification for voting.
During a Senate confirmation hearing in March, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said immigration officers would only be present at polling locations in response to a specific security threat and not as a means of intimidating voters.
“I can’t sit here and guarantee hypothetically what threat might be there or not,” Mullin told Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Mullin later told Democratic Sen. Andy Kim that noncitizens are prohibited from voting in federal and state elections and said he did not “understand what the concern is about enforcement of immigration at polling places anyways.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson referred to Mullin’s earlier comments when asked about the Maine proposal and said, “Elections exist for the American people, not illegal aliens, to choose their leaders.”
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has deployed more than 80 election monitors to over 200 polling locations across seven states during this primary season under provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, told Bloomberg that the department intends to deploy up to 1,000 monitors during this year’s midterm elections.
Federal law restricts the use of the military at polling places, while the Brennan Center for Justice has argued that federal authorities are also prohibited from deploying armed agents to polling locations for election-related purposes.
