With primary season already underway, election officials are preparing for November and some Democratic-led states worried about the possibility of armed soldiers or ICE officers appearing near polling places are taking steps to counter what they see as a potential effort to intimidate voters.

Our Liz Landers has more.

This week, Connecticut's governor signed into law a measure that

expands no excuse absentee voting while also restricting armed federal agents near polling places.

Portions of the law were modeled on New Mexico, which earlier this year became the first state

to pass such a ban near polling places. Joining us to discuss how states are dealing with election security and voter intimidation concerns

is Maggie Toulouse Oliver, the New Mexico Secretary of State.

Madam Secretary, thank you for joining NewsHour.

Thank you for having me.

So federal law dating back to the Civil War already bans sending the military or other, quote,

armed men to polling places in most instances. But I asked President Trump about this recently.

Here was our exchange.

The midterm elections, would you send the National Guard or ICE to voting locations in November?

Would you do that?

Well, you know what? I'd do anything necessary to make sure we have

honest elections. We have to have honest elections. So you're not ruling that out? What enforcement

mechanism does the state have in the moment if armed federal forces show up at the polls?

Well, the good news is here in New Mexico, we recently passed some legislation to address this very question.

Because in reality, neither the National Guard nor ICE nor any federal entity has a role in the election process or a responsibility or the power to interfere in the election process.

And in fact, as we know going back to the Jim Crow days,

any involvement of law enforcement or the military can be perceived as intimidation by voters.

And so we passed a legislation here in New Mexico this year, Senate Bill 264,

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