Wisconsin Election Clerks Preparing for Possibility of Armed Federal Agents at Polling Places

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026 -- 1:00 PM

(Gray) Wisconsin election clerks are preparing for the possibility of armed federal agents at polling places in the battleground state, a concern raised during a roundtable hosted by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin.

“The new kind of concern of having ICE agents or any armed federal agents at the polling place is something that we had not been planning for before, but now trainings are being offered,” said Elena Hilby, Sun Prairie city clerk. It is illegal to station troops or armed men at the polls unless to “repel armed enemies of the United States,” according to federal law.

“We’ve been doing a lot of planning around these scenarios, making sure we have criminal defense attorneys, federal criminal defense attorneys on retainer in case we have to rush to the Kastenmeier [U.S. Courthouse] building to get an order,” said Scott McDonell, Dane County clerk.

A White House spokesperson, when asked whether ICE will be sent to polling places, referred to a Tweet from a February press conference in which then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that was not something she had ever heard the president consider, but that she could not guarantee an ICE agent would not be near a polling location in November.

Baldwin criticized potential federal involvement in local elections. She said the current administration is trying to distract from the economy. “Whether that’s ICE or Border Patrol or FBI agents or National Guard units, that is meant to sow doubt, to intimidate, to make it harder for eligible voters to get to the polls and get to work after they’ve done so,” Baldwin said.

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