The legal question is distinct from whether any federal deployment will occur. Hawaii's chief election officer, Scott Nago, said county officials can deny entry to voting locations, including to federal agents, and that intimidation at those sites is unlawful, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The legal limits
Federal law separately prohibits an officer or other federal service member from ordering, bringing or keeping armed men at a place where a general or special election is held, except when necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States. A violation of 18 U.S.C. § 592 can result in imprisonment of up to five years and disqualification from federal office, according to the Legal Information Institute. Another federal provision, 18 U.S.C. § 594, makes it a crime to intimidate, threaten or coerce someone to interfere with voting in a federal election, according to the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.
Hawaii adds site-specific restrictions. Hawaii Revised Statutes § 134-9.1 limits the carrying or possession of firearms at polling places and voter service centers, including nearby parking areas, subject to stated exemptions and defenses, according to Justia Law. Section 11-132 regulates activity within a 200-foot perimeter and limits admission to designated election participants and people accompanying voting adults, according to FindLaw.
Why the issue matters in a vote-by-mail state
What Hawaii's voting sites do
According to the Hawaii Office of Elections, voter service centers provide accessible in-person voting, same-day registration and ballot collection. For the 2026 general election, they are scheduled to operate from Oct. 20 through Nov. 3, excluding Sundays. The access restrictions described above apply to those sites and places of deposit; county officials' authority to deny entry, including to federal agents, is the position reported by the Star-Advertiser, not evidence of a planned deployment.
Hawaii's system also separates ballot return from in-person voting. The Office of Elections' 2024 election-by-mail report says places of deposit opened as early as July 18 for voters who chose not to return ballots by mail, while voter service centers separately offered opportunities to vote in person. Separately, the Justice Department says federal observers are currently authorized by court order in four political subdivisions—three in Alaska and one in Louisiana—under a separate observer program that does not indicate a planned deployment in Hawaii.
What Hawaii’s mail system has built in
The Hawaii Office of Elections described the 2020 election as the state’s first statewide election conducted by mail under Act 136, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019, according to its status-of-operations report. The same report says the office conducts a manual audit after Election Day of at least 10% of randomly selected precincts and allows voters to correct ballot-return-envelope signatures within five business days after the election. The verified material cited here describes those procedures but does not provide statewide rejection or late-return rates or a breakdown of their documented causes.
Hawaii has delivered ballots automatically to active registered voters since the 2020 primary under the statewide vote-by-mail system established by 2019 legislation known as Act 136, according to legislative records available through LegiScan. Voters therefore have a mail option, while voter service centers and places of deposit remain governed by the state’s access and conduct rules.
The Supreme Court’s recent action left Hawaii’s existing mail-ballot process in place for this election. The court rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to allow the U.S. Postal Service to deny delivery of mail-in ballots under new requirements, a decision that the PBS NewsHour reported as preserving planned ballot delivery. That ruling addressed ballot delivery, not conduct or access at Hawaii voting sites. Hawaii voting-rights groups nevertheless urged voters to return ballots early, according to the Star-Advertiser, because they remain concerned about possible disruption or intimidation near Election Day.
The unresolved federal question
The federal-personnel question remains unsettled. FBI Director Kash Patel declined to rule out sending armed FBI agents to polling places, according to a statement from the Office of Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi. The Star-Advertiser also reported fears that immigration agents could appear at voting locations and detain people they suspect are in the country illegally. Those reports describe a possibility, not a confirmed deployment to Hawaii.
Civil-rights organizations and labor unions filed federal lawsuits in the District of Columbia seeking to stop agencies including ICE, DHS and the FBI from sending agents to voting locations, according to NPR Illinois, citing reporting by the New York Times. The Star-Advertiser reported that the litigation alleges intimidation of voters, particularly voters of color.
Local advocates continue to frame mail voting as a way to avoid in-person encounters at voting sites. Marlene Thom of Indivisible Hawaiʻi told the Star-Advertiser that the FBI, ICE and Customs and Border Protection have either indicated or declined to rule out a presence at voting locations nationally. The newspaper also reported her view that noncitizen voting is extremely rare in Hawaii and nationally and has not affected an election outcome.
Gov. Josh Green said the court decision gives Hawaii certainty as it prepares for the election and that every eligible voter should be able to cast a ballot. The ruling resolves the immediate dispute over the Postal Service's handling of mail ballots, but it does not determine whether federal agents will appear at Hawaii voting sites or how any attempted deployment would be handled under the state and federal provisions described above.
