WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, September 23, Elias Law Group attorneys representing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Democratic Governors Association (DGA), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries filed a federal lawsuit to block the Trump administration from deploying armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents to any location where Americans are voting or ballots are being counted this fall.
Numerous Trump administration officials, including Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and FBI Director Kash Patel, have made credible threats to deploy armed federal agents to polling places. During primary and runoff elections earlier this year, ICE agents appeared at polling places in Texas, California and New York.
The lawsuit argues that the Trump administration’s deployment of armed federal agents to polling places, as well as its threats to do so, violates the prohibition on voter intimidation in the Voting Rights Act. The complaint also alleges that the Trump administration’s policy violates a separate statute barring federal officials from stationing armed agents at polling places, “unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”
As the complaint explains, “dispatching armed federal agents to the polls—or even threatening to do so— is forbidden by federal law. This is because voters need not actually be arrested, questioned, or even approached in order for such threats to intimidate them from exercising the franchise. For many lawful American voters, the sight of masked, armed federal agents in a polling-place parking lot is enough to send them home or make them think twice about casting a ballot at all. For many others, the mere prospect of such an encounter will keep them from heading to the polls.”
The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the Trump administration’s policy unlawful, declare that the administration has no legal authority to station armed officers where elections are held, and bar armed ICE and FBI agents from polling places, drop boxes, curbside voting sites and any location where ballots are cast, collected, counted or certified. That protection would cover early voting, Election Day and the post-election ballot curing period.
“Voters have a fundamental right, enshrined in federal law, to cast their ballot without being intimidated by armed agents of the federal government,” said Elias Law Group partner Uzoma Nkwonta. “The Democratic Party will not stand by while President Trump and his administration make dangerous, unlawful threats to intimidate and harass eligible voters. Elias Law Group is proud to represent the DSCC, DCCC, DGA, Leader Schumer and Leader Jeffries to fight back against these bullying tactics and ensure that polling places are safe for every voter this fall.”
Click HERE to read the full lawsuit.
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