Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Pennsylvania’s free newsletter here.A movement is brewing to get sheriffs around the county to pledge not to interfere in the 2026 midterm elections, and at least one Pennsylvania sheriff is on board.Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler, a Democrat, says he signed the pledge to signify that he has no intention of interfering with the electoral process, unlike some sheriffs in other states have done in the past. “Nowhere are [sheriffs] responsible for seizing ballots and taking it upon ourselves to prove baseless claims of election fraud,” he said. “It is our responsibility to protect elections, to ensure that voters have faith in our electoral system.”The pledge, which only a handful of sheriffs have signed so far, says the sheriff recognizes that “public confidence in free and fair elections is essential to constitutional government.” Signers promise not to permit “ICE presence” at polling places, intimidate voters, or seize ballots, among other things.It is part of a campaign from The Workers Circle, a Jewish nonprofit focused on social justice issues.JJ Briscoe, a national organizer for The Workers Circle, said the campaign grew out of the Disappeared in America coalition, which formed last year to push back against the Trump administration’s immigrant detention and deportation campaign. He said encouraging citizens to talk with their local sheriffs became important as the administration expanded the 287(g) program, which enables local law enforcement to partner with ICE to enforce immigration laws. Some election officials and advocates are worried about the prospect of ICE agents coming to polling locations this fall.Now, the group is using that infrastructure to encourage citizens to have their sheriffs affirm they will not interfere with elections.“Having this pledge is a way to get ahead of one of the most, I would say, topical threats,” he said, but “also to just deter election sabotage in general, whether it’s a directive coming from the federal government to seize ballots, or if it’s not ICE, [other] people coming to the polls and potentially trying to intimidate or put the safety of election officials or poll workers at risk.”The pledge’s organizers are concerned that a rogue sheriff could step beyond their authority and interfere with elections, a hypothetical that has some recent precedent.Last year, Riverside County, California, Sheriff Chad Bianco, seized more than 650,000 ballots as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities in the state’s 2025 congressional redistricting referendum. Former Johnson County, Kansas, sheriff Calvin Hayden also pursued election fraud investigations to the point of criticism from fellow Republicans before his 2024 primary loss.Both of those sheriffs were associated with the constitutional sheriffs movement, which, according to the States United Democracy Center, believes that a sheriff’s authority within their county is supreme, superseding that of other law enforcement agents or government officials. Membership in the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association is not public, but leaders have said as many as 10% of the county’s sheriffs are a part of that movement.Briscoe and Ceisler said the pledge isn’t just about signaling the sheriff won’t participate in efforts that could be perceived as voter intimidation, but also to push back against the constitutional sheriffs movement. “That really served as the impetus for this pledge to get all sheriffs on board,” Briscoe said. “That is not something they should do, and this whole constitutional sheriffs movement that believes sheriffs have the highest order of the land is not constitutionally sound.” At least two sheriffs besides Ceisler have signed the pledge so far: Bristol County, Massachusetts, Sheriff Paul Heroux and Alexandria, Virginia, Sheriff Sean Casey. Briscoe declined to say if there were more but said additional information would be coming soon.Ceisler said he signed the pledge in part because he heard from some voters in Bucks County concerned that what happened in California could happen there as well. He said it’s “not our job” to seize ballots like Bianco did.“We will proactively protect people’s right to vote,” Ceisler said, adding that the only reason he or his deputies will be at the polls is at the request of election officials. “But we will not be doing the intimidating. Again, our goal is to stay away from the polling places, and if I could go the entire day without needing to respond to anything, that is a good day.” Ceisler was elected sheriff last year, after a campaign in which he criticized the Republican incumbent’s collaboration with ICE. Carter Walker is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at cwalker@votebeat.org.
