State and local officials across the country have said they are prepared for the potential of the Trump administration deploying ICE agents or other Department of Homeland Security officials at polling places. Advocates have expressed concerns, even though ICE presence at the polls seems unlikely. WAMC's Capital Region Bureau Chief Grant Ashley has been looking into these concerns and spoke with co-hosts Sam Dingman and Molly Anderson on Northeast Notebook Live.
TRANSCRIPT
Editor's note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Dingman: So for months now, we have heard this kind of persistent anxiety that the Trump administration may deploy ICE agents or other Department of Homeland Security officials to monitor polling places, and our Grant Ashley has been looking into these concerns. Grant joins us now. Hello, Grant.
Ashley: Hello.
Dingman: So, Grant, is this something voters need to be concerned about?
Ashley: So, DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, says they have no plans to patrol polling places, but that hasn't stopped rumors like you mentioned. In the unlikely event that there are agents at polling places, it will be against federal and New York State law. Federal law makes it illegal to send any armed military or officers except to "repel armed enemies of the United States," so a very specific circumstance there, and state law bars local governments from letting immigration enforcement access polling locations unless they have a judicial warrant or court order. I talked to Murad Awawdeh, who's the president of the New York Immigration Coalition, and he told me that those laws exist so that Americans can vote without being intimidated or harassed.
Awawdeh: Every eligible voter deserves the opportunity to make their voices heard. Federal agents have no place in elections run by state election officials. Trump has sowed fear and distrust around our elections, but we have the law on our side, and together we'll ensure the integrity of our elections.
Ashley: That being said, you know, I think it's important to talk about how we got here, right?
Anderson: Yeah, how did this become part of the national conversation?
Ashley: In large part, it's because of mixed signals from the Trump administration throughout this year. Attorney General Todd Blanche, when he was deputy attorney general, was he questioned why there would be objections to ICE being at polling places, and then Trump was asked about this in May, and here's that exchange from PBS.
Reporter: So the midterm elections, the midterm elections, would you send the National Guard or ICE to voting locations in November? Would you do that?
Trump: Well, you know what? I'd do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections. We have to have honest elections.
Reporter: So you're not ruling that out?
Dingman: "I would do anything necessary," he said.
Ashley: Yes, and ICE has gone after people who've criticized them before. In Syracuse, a poll worker said two ICE officers confronted her about a post she made calling for charges against the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. That confrontation happened while this woman was working at a primary polling place, the New York Attorney General's office is investigating that, and the woman is actually suing those ICE agents, or suing ICE, rather. That was filed today.
And in Rochester, ICE left a "warning notice" threatening prosecution at the home of a man who sent a critical email to the agency, and a federal judge ruled that conduct was likely unconstitutional. I talked to Perry Grossman, who's the director of the Voting Rights Project at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Grossman: We've seen efforts to claim that elections are rigged, and obviously, you know, in the not too distant past, we saw this administration, this president, try and and you know have an insurrection to overturn an election. So, you know, this is all par for that course in terms of trying to undermine confidence in elections and to scare voters. But voters should not be intimidated.
Ashley: And the news broke around the time that I spoke to him - Grossman is representing that Syracuse woman in her lawsuit against ICE. So I missed the chance to ask him about that, I feel like I should note that.
Dingman: Perhaps we'll talk to him again. When this all kind of bubbled up, there was obviously a lot of concern about it. So, what changed? What makes you, Grant, so confident that immigration agents won't be at polling places?
Ashley: So, DHS is now denying that they're going to, you know, send agents to patrol polling places. The Associated Press has reported that they've told state election administrators that immigration agents won't be stationed at polls. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin accused Democrats of "fearmongering" over this issue, and, you know, Trump was also asked about this by Time Magazine in a piece published this month, and his response was, "haven't thought of it." The voting advocates I talked to said, you know, it was unlikely that agents would go to the polls, and that included Erica Smitka, who is the executive director of the League of Women Voters of New York State.
Smitka: Frankly, the information that we've received from both federal partners and state partners, and organizations that we work with on the ground, we just don't think this is something that's likely to happen. It's simply, again, you know, given the federal and state laws that are in place, simply not the time or place you could say for federal agents to be taking action.
Ashley: And for what it's worth, the data shows people are voting and early voting, right? You know, more than a million New Yorkers have already voted early so far, as of Wednesday evening, right? Even more have voted today.
Dingman: As we've been talking about on the show the last couple days, the numbers are up from last time.
Ashley: Yeah, and I reported today that more people have voted early in Albany County in 2026 than they did in the entire early voting period during the last midterm election.
Anderson: And still, voting rights groups have been preparing for this possibility, even though they think it's unlikely, right?
Ashley: That's correct. So you know, representatives from the voters' rights groups I talked to are making plans. The League of Women Voters of New York is sending out nonpartisan poll watchers. They told me they have hundreds of volunteers. And New York State Attorney General Letitia James told me her office has worked with other Democratic AGs and state offices to prepare for this.
Dingman: So, if folks don't need to worry about ICE, what should they be prepared for when they head to the polls?
Ashley: So, at least in New York, you'll only be asked to provide ID if you didn't provide it when you registered to vote. So, if you're not sure, just bring it in case. You have a right to vote regardless of whether you have a disability or you need voter materials in another language. You can request an interpreter. Those are all rights that you, you know, should have access to. Prepare for long lines. Maybe that means bring water, snack, or a chair or something. And if you're in line at 9pm, you can vote on election day.
