Democrats sue Trump admin to block armed agents at polls

Democratic leaders sued President Donald Trump's administration in federal court in Washington to block armed federal officers from polling places, ballot drop boxes and vote-counting sites during the November midterm elections.

The case, filed late Wednesday, argues that even threatened deployments by immigration or law-enforcement agents could intimidate voters, especially naturalized citizens and others concerned about encounters with immigration authorities.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries joined congressional and governors' campaign organizations in the lawsuit. They accuse immigration and law-enforcement agencies of asserting authority to send armed officers to voting locations despite restrictions on such deployments.

The administration has said it has no formal plan to station agents at polling sites, but officials have not ruled out their presence in certain circumstances. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said immigration agents could respond to a threat or serve a warrant on someone they were pursuing. FBI Director Kash Patel told senators agents would go to polling places if there was a law-enforcement reason.

The complaint asks the court to bar armed federal officers from operating around polling places, ballot drop boxes and other places where votes are cast, collected or counted from early voting through post-election ballot processing. It cites federal restrictions on armed personnel at election sites and the Voting Rights Act's ban on voter intimidation.

The lawsuit follows similar cases by civil rights organizations, labor unions and Denver seeking limits on federal law-enforcement activity around polling places.