Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler signed a national pledge to keep ICE agents away from polling places and bar his office from interfering in election administration ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election.

Ceisler joined sheriffs from Massachusetts and Wyoming at a press conference to announce the commitment, according to Patch.

"This pledge shouldn't be necessary, but other sheriffs who have abandoned their oaths to chase baseless claims of voter fraud have compelled me to join colleagues from across the country in making this commitment," Ceisler said.

The pledge, called the Sheriff Pledge for Free and Fair Elections, commits signers to protect voters from intimidation, refuse to permit ICE presence at or near election offices and polling places, and leave decisions about handling and counting ballots to election officials and courts.

The Workers Circle, a Jewish nonprofit focused on social justice, organized the campaign. As first reported by Votebeat, the effort grew out of the Disappeared in America coalition, which formed to push back against the administration's immigration enforcement expansion. JJ Briscoe, a national organizer for The Workers Circle, said the pledge also aims to counter the Constitutional Sheriffs movement. That movement holds that a sheriff's authority within their county supersedes that of other law enforcement or government officials.

Bristol County, Massachusetts, Sheriff Paul Heroux and Albany County, Wyoming, Sheriff Aaron Appelhans joined Ceisler at the press conference. As of early October, Votebeat reported that only a handful of sheriffs had signed on, though organizers said more were expected.

Why it matters locally

The pledge follows Ceisler's decision in January to withdraw Bucks County from a 287(g) agreement. That program had allowed the sheriff's office to collaborate with ICE on immigration enforcement. Former Sheriff Fred Harran, a Republican, signed the agreement, which drew a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania, according to WHYY. Ceisler, a Democrat and U.S. Army veteran, won more than 55% of the vote in 2025 after campaigning against the ICE partnership.

Ceisler told Votebeat that some Bucks County voters had expressed concern about sheriff overreach after Riverside County, California, Sheriff Chad Bianco seized more than 650,000 ballots last year. Bianco was investigating alleged irregularities in a state redistricting referendum. Ceisler said his office would not take similar action.

He added that the only reason he or his deputies would be at the polls is at the request of election officials.

Federal backdrop

Whether ICE agents will appear near polling places on Election Day remains an open question nationally. The administration has not articulated specific plans to send ICE to polls, according to Bucks County Beacon. But messaging has been inconsistent. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told state election officials in February that suggestions of ICE at polls were "disinformation." In September, DHS said it was not "planning" such operations but might conduct "targeted enforcement" near polling locations if there is a public safety threat.

Federal law already prohibits stationing armed agents at polling places. Pennsylvania's election code bars police from being within 100 feet of a polling place on Election Day. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a Philadelphia Democrat, has introduced a bill to expand that language to cover all law enforcement officers, including federal agents. The measure has not received a vote.

No response from the Bucks County Republican Party or former Sheriff Harran regarding Ceisler's pledge appears in public reporting as of publication.

Bucks County voters head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3.