After federal immigration agents arrested at least three people in Santa Fe one Sunday in August, 81-year-old Ann Moon voiced her resentment to her brother.

“He said to me, ‘What are you going to do about it, Ann?’ ” recalled Moon, who said her brother followed up with another question partly masked as a challenge.

“What’s the most important thing for everybody to do?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied.

“Vote,” he said.

Motivated by concerns U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will show up at polling places and disrupt voting in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Moon organized an effort at her church and neighborhood to offer transportation — and a personal escort inside if necessary — to voters feeling nervous or apprehensive.

Moon isn’t the only one preparing for the possibility of ICE agents turning up at polling places. The New Mexico Legislature passed a bill this year that makes it illegal under state law to station troops — including armed immigration agents — at polling places. And New Mexico is among the states preparing for federal interference in the midterms, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver told Axios in September.

“We would be engaging in malpractice if we didn’t prepare for the concern [about ICE agents showing up at polls] and we didn’t address it,” Toulouse Oliver said, adding the response would be similar to other unauthorized activity.

“An ICE agent is the same as any other unauthorized individual at a polling location, and the same protocols should be followed,” she told the news outlet.

While New Mexico hasn’t received a specific threat, election administrators are preparing for the unknown, including the presence of federal immigration agents.

“I think everyone is preparing for the things that people have been seeing in the news, reading about, so federal interference is a topic in which we have been thinking through how to respond to this year,” said Lindsey Bachman, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office.

‘Targeted enforcement’

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said there are no planned operations targeting polling locations. But the agency left some wiggle room with the possibility of targeted arrests.

“ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“DHS and [the U.S. Department of Justice] are laser focused on prosecuting and removing aliens who vote and preventing the dilution of the votes of U.S. citizens. ONLY Americans should elect American leaders,” the spokesperson said.

Its message to “aliens” who vote in U.S. elections is clear, the spokesperson said.

“We will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences — including criminal charges and deportation,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also shared comments Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made on the issue during his confirmation hearing.

“I don’t understand what the concern is about enforcement of immigration at polling places anyways because, honestly, if you’re not a citizen, you shouldn’t be voting anyways, so technically there shouldn’t be illegals at the polling spot,” Mullin said at the hearing.

“The only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation,” he added.

Bachman said election administrators are used to preparing for “unknown scenarios” before any election, from natural disasters to voter intimidation.

“It looks different each year on what may be on the horizon,” she said.

“Certainly, we take the reality that we may need to prepare for federal interference in our elections very seriously, and we are doing so in collaboration with state partners in the event that that takes place,” she said.

‘Contingency plans’

The Secretary of State’s Office reported Tuesday it had recently hosted regional election security exercises across New Mexico in partnership with the nonpartisan Election Security Exchange.

County clerks trained alongside local police and first responders, emergency managers and others during the five regional workshops.

“From the perspective of election administrators, election security involves physical security, cybersecurity, [and] the safety of the participants in an election, both voters and election workers,” Bachman said. “Prior to every election, election administrators work very hard to put in place contingency plans related to emergencies that impact all of those areas.”

The workshops give county clerks and their partners an opportunity to build or strengthen relationships and also “talk through” various scenarios, she said.

“The scenarios can range from things like power outages to unauthorized individuals at a polling location,” Bachman said.

Toulouse Oliver told Axios her office is training election officials to ask federal law enforcement officers to leave the voting area should they show up before involving other law enforcement.

“As we would with any emerging event during an election, New Mexico’s election administrators would work to confirm the specific details of a report of federal interference and then would work with state and federal partners on a response that is appropriate,” Bachman wrote in an email in response to follow-up questions from The New Mexican.

“Based on input from the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office and the New Mexico Department of Justice, this topic has been addressed in administrative guidance to County Clerks, as well as in the joint voter information advisory issued earlier this month,” she continued.

The advisory, issued by Toulouse Oliver and Attorney General Raúl Torrez, underscores voters have a right to cast a secret ballot “without anyone bothering you or telling you how to vote.”

In a section on law enforcement’s role at polling places, the advisory states New Mexico prohibits federal officers from interfering in state elections “unless repelling armed enemies of the United States.”

“It is not appropriate for uniformed law enforcement to be present inside or outside of a polling location without being specifically called to assist with maintaining order by the election board, the county clerk, or the Secretary of State,” the advisory states.

Rosangela Ortiz, chair of the bipartisan New Mexico County Clerks Affiliate, said in a statement county clerks across the state are focused on ensuring safe, secure and accurate elections, from the secure handling and safeguarding of absentee ballots to ensuring voting equipment is functioning properly.

Ortiz, who works as chief deputy clerk at Santa Fe County’s Elections Bureau, said county clerks are also concerned about heightened tensions and the potential for misinformation when routine procedures are either misunderstood or misreported.

“Regarding the possibility of ICE agents appearing at polling locations, we would approach any resulting disruption as we would other unexpected situations, in accordance with applicable laws and established procedures,” she said.

Ortiz said county clerks have experience dealing with emergencies, security concerns and disruptions.

“Our priority remains protecting our election workers, voters, ballots, and the integrity of the election process, while ensuring our election systems operate reliably and every eligible voter can cast their ballot safely and without intimidation,” she said.

‘Growing sense of alarm’

The Washington Post recently reported “a small group of U.S. national security officials has been discreetly advising state governments and congressional lawmakers on how to prepare for the possibility” of federal interference under the Trump administration.

“Their efforts are motivated not by political bias, they say, but a growing sense of alarm that President Donald Trump will harm American democracy by undermining the integrity of the vote to keep the Republican Party in power,” the newspaper reported.

New Mexico isn’t among the states national security officials have advised about possible federal interference, Bachman said.

Still, the state’s 2nd Congressional District will be under the national spotlight as Democrats and Republicans battle it out for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The battleground district has a history of tight races and switches in political power.

The race pits Democratic incumbent Rep. Gabe Vasquez against Republican Greg Cunningham, a retired police detective and Marine combat veteran endorsed by Trump.

“The good news and the bad news is that I’m hyper aware of the Congressional District 2 race being nationally watched and the balance of Congress,” Doña Ana County Clerk Amanda López Askin said. “There’s very few races that they’re looking at that could shift it, and this is one of them.”

López Askin, the Democratic nominee to succeed Toulouse Oliver as secretary of state, said election officials across the country are on “heightened alert” amid talk of federal interference. But she said she feels relatively confident in New Mexico’s preparations.

“I haven’t heard any very specific threats for us to be super focused on,” she said.

“It’s all of the security that we always do that has worked well, and we’re all on heightened alert,” she added. “I think that’s the vibe of the country as well. It’s not just New Mexico.”

López Askin noted the irony related to concerns about federal intervention in this year’s election when the federal government was being deployed to make sure people had the right to vote in the 1960s after the passage of the civil and voting rights acts.

“The government had to send people to make sure states were doing what they needed to do in expanding those rights,” she said. “It almost feels the opposite now, that they would deploy the power of the government to restrict our rights, and that’s outrageous and concerning.”

‘Safe and secure’

In a Truth Social post earlier this month once again advocating for New Mexico to change its name to New America, Trump branded the state’s elections “crooked,” though he didn’t offer any proof. He made similar comments at an event at the White House in January. Trump has lost New Mexico three times, although his six-point loss in the state in 2024 was substantially closer than his previous two showings.

“This week’s comments from the President are just the most recent ill-informed remarks about our process in New Mexico, so election officials have been preparing as they always do to ensure they have the connections and resources in place to respond come what may,” Toulouse Oliver said Thursday in a statement to The New Mexican.

Michael Coleman, chief spokesperson for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said the governor shares the general concerns of millions of Americans about potential federal interference.

“However, New Mexicans should have full confidence in our state’s elections and know that their votes are safe and secure,” he wrote in an email. “The Secretary of State’s Office has been working hard to prepare for any eventuality on Election Day, and the governor is confident in those efforts.”

Coleman noted New Mexico’s election administration ranks seventh in the nation, based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s 2024 Elections Performance Index.

“All New Mexicans should be proud of this ranking and confident that their vote will count whether they vote early, by mail or on Election Day,” he wrote.

Moon, who organized an effort in her church and neighborhood to get voters who are feeling unsafe or anxious to the polls, said she’s had “quite a number of people” in each community offer to pitch in.

While she hasn’t had anyone call to ask for assistance yet, and an attempt to involve other communities of faith has been slow going, Moon described the effort as a learning experience.

“Some communities I was able to contact, and some I wasn’t, so in a way, this is preparation … for how to be do it better in two years,” she said, referring to the 2028 presidential election.

Daniel J. Chacón is a state government and politics reporter at The New Mexican. Follow Chacón on X @danieljchacon.

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