Federal agents are ending up at polling places for reasons unrelated to the election

Two federal officers went into a polling place in New York this summer to confront an election worker about a post she made on social media.

In Florida, Customs and Border Protection agents conducted a traffic stop outside a polling place where they say the driver pulled into the parking lot.

In California, ICE agents arrested a man near a ballot drop-off location on a college campus.

And in Minnesota, where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by federal officers, DHS agents have appeared at election locations three times this year to serve subpoenas, including twice at an early-voting site, a Hennepin County spokesperson tells Scripps News.

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None of the incidents appears to have involved agents intentionally trying to interfere with voting but were instead unrelated law enforcement actions that brought federal agents near or inside places where people vote.

For civil rights groups and some election officials, federal agents at polling places are a problem for voters even when they are not the target.

"I think anyone carrying a weapon in a polling location is going to be inherently intimidating, particularly if they have on the badge of the United States government, said Maureen Coffey, vice board chair of Arlington County, Virginia.

Federal law prohibits armed men at any place where a general or special election is held, unless necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.

Arlington County and civil rights groups are now pressing the courts to make it clear that the law applies to ICE and other armed DHS agents.

Since our senior U.S. Government officials seem to be ambiguous on this fact, I think if a court could say that explicitly, I think it would help everyone feel a lot better, Coffey said.

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A judge has yet to rule on a case brought by Arlington County and other similar litigation from civil rights groups.

A DHS spokesperson tells Scripps News that ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations, and pointed to comments from the Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin during his confirmation hearing in March.

The only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation, Mullin said.

DHS has not said whether there are any restrictions in place this year to limit any type of activity by federal agents at polling places.