Bobby Charles’ contempt for the law should deter voters | Steve Collins
Maine Republican Governor‑to‑Be Bobby Charles Plans to Seek Federal Law‑Enforcement Presence at Polls
A recorded message from Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Charles, released in late August, revealed that he intends to request former President Donald Trump’s border‑czar, Tom Homan, to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and federal marshals to Maine voting sites in the upcoming November election.
Charles, who earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1987, said in the clip that he and Homan had a long‑time friendship and had appeared together on Fox News. “Here’s my secret,” Charles told supporters. “I have a friend named Tom Homan. Tom and I used to get on Fox all the time together. Tom’s an awesome guy.”
The plan would involve the federal government’s armed officers—ICE agents and federal marshals—present at polling places, a scenario that federal law specifically bars. 18 U.S. Code § 592, titled “Troops at polls,” makes it unlawful for any “officer or other person in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States” to order armed men to any place where a general or special election is held, unless they are needed to repel an armed enemy. Violations can result in fines, up to five years in prison, and disqualification from holding public office.
Maine Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hannah Pingree immediately condemned the proposal. “I’m hearing that my opponent is begging Trump’s ICE to come interfere with our free and fair elections,” Pingree said. “His conduct speaks for itself, and I trust the Maine people to see it for what it is.”
Pingree’s criticism is part of a broader backlash against a perceived trend among some Republicans to attribute electoral losses to alleged voter fraud or manipulation. A few months ago, former Governor Paul LePage, who lost the 2022 gubernatorial race, blamed his defeat on mass voting by undocumented residents—an assertion that was widely refuted by election analysts.
The law that would bar Charles’s proposed deployment has its roots in the Civil War era, when legislators sought to prevent a president from using federal troops to influence elections. The Brennan Center for Justice notes that the statute “protects the freedom of elections to maintain a free government.”
As Maine heads toward the November election, the state’s political landscape will include a debate over federal presence at polls, with Charles’s proposal drawing swift rebuke from the Democratic camp and raising questions about the legal boundaries of election security measures.
