The Republican-controlled North Carolina State Board of Elections has rejected a proposal that would protect polling places from interference by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
According to the liberal election news site Democracy Docket, "The motion, introduced by Democratic board member Siobhan O’Duffy Millen, would have directed staff to develop guidance for counties on how to respond to situations such as ICE at polling sites or law enforcement efforts to seize ballots. The proposal failed by a 3–2 party-line vote, with all GOP members voting to block it."
Millen warned such guidance was critical, given the Trump administration has repeatedly toyed with the idea of sending ICE agents to the polls — and given Riverside County, California, Sheriff Chad Bianco recently seized 650,000 ballots from a state voter referendum in a baseless hunt for fraud.
“We’re seeing national voices, Mr. Homan, Mr. Blanche, mentioning the idea of sending ICE or CBP to the polls. We’ve seen ballot seizures in Fulton County and in Riverside, California. And it’s our job to protect the polls in North Carolina,” said Millen. “I think it’s better to prepare for a storm and the storm not to come versus we get here in early voting and we have a substantial amount of new directors, substantial amounts of new board members that are relying on us to give them the framework of how to address any issues that can pop up.”
The North Carolina elections board has been controlled by Republicans since the GOP legislature rammed through a power grab bill at the end of last year to strip power from the incoming Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, transferring the authority to appoint the board from the governor to the state auditor, who is a Republican.
The same board recently voted to hand over sensitive voter information to the Trump Justice Department, which is engaged in a partisan nationwide investigation of voter rolls.