Democratic district attorneys across the country announced Monday they will arrest and prosecute federal agents who appear at polling locations, hours before six states opened voting in the 2026 midterm primaries.
The joint announcement, obtained in advance by Politico, was released ahead of Tuesday elections in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The warning specifically cited ICE officers and National Guard troops.
“If ICE officers are dispatched to polling places in Hennepin County to frighten voters away from the ballot box, my office will investigate, and we will charge,” the Hennepin County district attorney said in the statement.
The announcements came after President Trump, asked about the prospect of sending federal agents to polling sites, declined to rule it out. “I’d do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections. We have to have honest elections,” Trump told reporters at the White House on May 12.
Election officials in several states said they have added new emergency planning scenarios in response to the possibility of federal involvement. Scott McDonell, the Dane County, Wisconsin, clerk, told USA TODAY he added a training slide this year covering what poll workers should do “if the FBI shows up at your office.”
Not all election officials oppose federal involvement. Kim Pytleski, the clerk for Oconto County, Wisconsin, said she would welcome federal authorities and treat them like election observers. “Whether they wanted me or not,” Pytleski said, she would accompany any agents who arrived with a warrant for election machines.
Trump has signed two executive orders related to election administration. One would require identification to vote nationwide; multiple courts have blocked it and the administration is appealing. A second instructs the Postal Service to refuse to deliver ballots for anyone not on a newly created federal voter registration list. States and voting rights groups have sued, arguing it exceeds presidential authority under the Constitution.
