WASHINGTON – Recent events in Minnesota, where federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, and an FBI raid on Georgia’s largest county election office, have stirred concerns among Democratic election officials about potential disruptions in the upcoming midterm elections.
During a Thursday meeting of state election officials, several Democratic secretaries of state expressed apprehension about possible interference tactics from the Trump administration. They are particularly worried about immigration agents’ presence near polling stations or attempts to confiscate voting equipment.
“Ensuring that ballots are securely counted is no longer our sole focus. We now face election security issues that require scenario planning, especially given the Trump administration’s apparent intent to meddle in future elections,” stated Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is also a gubernatorial candidate.
The officials are stepping up their preparations following the FBI’s search of an Atlanta-area election center on Thursday. This action, which involved seizing ballots and records related to the 2020 election, has reignited former President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread fraud during the 2020 elections.
Benson highlighted that her office is organizing crisis scenario training across the state, which now includes preparing for bomb threats and the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at polling sites.
“We need to know when to take legal action, when to call for law enforcement support, and when to hold back,” Benson explained, detailing her guidance to local election officials.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is preparing for this year’s midterm elections by revamping previous years’ contingency plans and running disaster simulations with the state’s governor, attorney general and county clerks.
In an interview ahead of the conference, she said one of the most worrisome changes under the Trump administration has been its dismantling of efforts to track election interference and foreign meddling.
She also worried about whether the Trump administration would make changes through the U.S. Postal Service, which already has taken some steps that concern officials in states that rely heavily on mail ballots.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the election officials’ concerns.
Trump has made his interest in overhauling elections clear since early in his second term, signing a wide-ranging executive order that has been largely halted by the courts. The Constitution gives states and, to an extent, Congress authority over elections.
Recently, administration officials connected the president’s deportation agenda to election administration, an unusual move that alarmed democracy advocates.
Attorney General Pam Bondi recently wrote to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, urging him to share the state’s voter rolls as part of a way to “help bring back law and order” in the state, which has seen widespread protests over increased immigration enforcement and the deadly shootings by federal immigration agents.
The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against at least 23 states and the District of Columbia seeking detailed voter information that includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. State election officials who have resisted, most of them Democrats, have said the request violates state and federal privacy laws.
“That idea of using police force to push policy is un-American,” Griswold said.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said federal law will be on the side of the states to constrain the most extraordinary conduct, especially if armed federal agents show up around polling places.
“That won’t be a hard case,” she said.
But she is worried the show of force by immigration officers, arrests and deportations in various cities might deter some people from going out to cast a ballot.
“If people are too afraid to leave their homes to go get groceries, they’re going to be too afraid to go vote if ICE or other federal agents are patrolling the streets,” Bellows said.
Scenes of violent arrests by ICE agents and protests on the streets of American cities over the last year also have raised concerns among lawmakers in Congress about how the administration’s aggressive approach to law enforcement might collide with the midterm elections.
“I don’t want roving gangs of ICE showing up at polling stations. That would obviously intimidate voters,” said Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat.
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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
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