DOJ Charges 28 Individuals With Noncitizen Voting in Federal Elections
The charges test the practical scale of noncitizen voting enforcement at a moment when the question has moved from statistical debate to active federal prosecution.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed charges against 28 individuals on October 20, 2026, alleging illegal voting by noncitizens in federal elections, according to a DOJ announcement reported by RealClearPolitics. The charges represent one of the larger single-day enforcement actions on noncitizen voting in recent federal prosecutorial history.
Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections under 52 U.S.C. Section 20511 and 18 U.S.C. Section 611. Conviction on a charge under Section 611 carries a penalty of up to one year in prison for a first offense. The specific charges filed, the jurisdictions involved, and the names of the defendants were not fully detailed in publicly available DOJ press materials reviewed for this story. The precise charging documents, which would name defendants, specify counts, and identify the elections in question, are filed in federal district court and constitute the primary public record of the case.
The DOJ did not immediately release a breakdown of which federal elections the alleged votes were cast in, which states the defendants resided in, or whether the individuals are lawful permanent residents, visa holders, or undocumented individuals. Each of those categories carries different legal and policy implications. That information would appear in the indictments or criminal informations filed with the relevant district court clerk.
Noncitizen voting in federal elections has been a recurring subject of legislative and policy debate. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act, has been introduced in multiple congressional sessions. As of the 119th Congress, a version of the SAVE Act was attached to budget reconciliation legislation, according to the congressional record. The bill would require documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. The House passed a standalone version of the bill in 2024 by a vote of 248 to 168, with all Republicans and 52 Democrats voting in favor, per the House clerk roll call record.
Proponents of stricter voter registration requirements cite the potential for registration error and intentional fraud. Opponents, including election administrators from both parties, have argued that existing verification systems, including the SAVE database maintained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, already flag noncitizen registrations, and that documented cases of intentional noncitizen voting in federal elections have been numerically small relative to total ballots cast.
The Brennan Center for Justice published a review of election records in 2017 finding 30 credible cases of noncitizen voting out of approximately 23.5 million ballots cast in jurisdictions studied. The Public Interest Legal Foundation, a nonprofit that litigates on election integrity issues, has identified a larger set of registration anomalies, though not all anomalies result in actual votes or charges. Neither figure is directly comparable to the current DOJ action because the scope, methodology, and time periods differ.
The October 20 filing comes roughly two weeks before the November 2026 midterm elections, in which control of the U.S. House and Senate is contested. Midterm election cycles have historically seen increased DOJ and FBI activity on election-related investigations, a pattern documented in DOJ inspector general reviews following the 2006 and 2010 cycles. Whether the timing of the charges is related to prosecutorial readiness or calendar considerations is not addressed in available public documents.
The cases will be prosecuted by the relevant U.S. Attorney offices. The identity of those offices, and therefore the geographic distribution of the alleged offenses, is not confirmed in materials reviewed for this article. That information would be disclosed in the court filings and DOJ press releases associated with each individual case.
Several facts remain unknown at this stage. It is not yet public record which specific elections the 28 individuals allegedly voted in, what registration method was used, or whether any of the defendants claim the voting was unintentional, a documented phenomenon in cases where noncitizens are registered during DMV transactions in states with automatic voter registration systems. A full accounting of those details would require reviewing each criminal complaint or indictment filed in the relevant district courts, which are public documents accessible through the federal PACER system.