The upcoming midterm elections, who gets to vote in them, and how they are conducted, are shaping up to be one of the most important battles for the future of our democracy.
Yesterday (09-23-2026), congressional leaders and Democratic Party organizations sued the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and the FBI, asking a federal judge to prohibit armed federal officers from being deployed at or near polling places, ballot drop boxes, and locations where votes are counted.
It is the third major lawsuit this month challenging possible federal deployments connected to voting.
The Trump administration says ICE has no planned operations targeting polling places. But FBI Director Kash Patel recently declined to rule out sending FBI agents to polling places. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patel was asked whether doing so would violate federal law. He replied, “I don’t know that we can’t legally do it.”
Meanwhile, DHS is already conducting another election-related operation.
According to a whistleblower disclosure, immigration personnel were reassigned to investigate people suspected of voting illegally. They received less than two hours of training and were expected to investigate 40 people a day using state voter-registration databases, allegedly including systems requiring users to attest that they were accessing their own voter records.
DHS says the investigations are professionally conducted and aimed at preventing unlawful voting. Virginia’s attorney general is investigating whether DHS personnel violated state law while accessing its voter system.
The upcoming midterm elections, who gets to vote in them, and how they are conducted, are shaping up to be one of the most important battles for the future of our democracy.
Sources
- Democracy Docket: Federal Election Interference at the Polls Challenge (DSCC)
- Democracy Docket: Denver ICE Agents at Polls Challenge
- Brennan Center: NAACP et al. v. DHS et al.
- Bloomberg Law: Patel Declines to Rule Out FBI Agents at Polls on Election Day
- Associated Press: Virginia attorney general says DHS may have violated state election law after whistleblower report
- U.S. Code: 18 U.S.C. § 592, Troops at polls
- Washington Post: Sending armed ICE agents to polling places would be a federal crime, lawsuit says
- Reuters: Election officials prepare for midterm disruptions and federal intervention
