Civil Rights Groups Sue to Block Armed Agents at Polls Under Voting Rights Act
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 18
Civil Rights Groups Sue to Block Armed Agents at Polls Under Voting Rights Act
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 18
Summary
A coalition including the NAACP and SEIU sued the Trump administration in Washington on Friday to bar any deployment of federal agents at voting sites.
The complaint says aggressive immigration enforcement, claims of noncitizen voting and repeated suggestions that armed agents could appear at polls have created unlawful voter intimidation, especially for voters of color.
Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act bars actual or attempted intimidation, the suit argues, and does not require proof that violence or harassment already occurred.
Markwayne Mullin has said ICE is not patrolling polling places and would be there only for a threat or to serve a warrant, but officials have not ruled out future deployments.
The case is at least the second recent challenge to possible armed federal presence near polling stations, adding to broader Democratic concerns about federal influence over the coming elections.