Six Noncitizens Indicted For Allegedly Voting

Six noncitizens were indicted in Ohio after they allegedly voted in past elections despite noncitizen voting in federal elections being illegal, state Attorney General Dave Yost announced Tuesday.

Ramesh Patel, 68, was indicted on one count of illegal voting after he allegedly voted in 2014, 2016, and 2018 despite not being a citizen. Lorinda Miller, 78, was indicted on two counts of illegal voting after allegedly voting in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Miller “is a legal permanent resident but lacked U.S. citizenship,” according to Yost’s office. Both Nicholas Fontaine, 32, Van Thuy Cooper, 53, and Ahmed Aden, 35, are also “legal permanent resident[s]” but not citizens, leading to their indictment. Sixty-two year-old Maria Dearaujo was also indicted on one count of illegal voting. She is a “lawful resident” but not a citizen and allegedly voted in both 2016 and 2018, according to Yost’s office.

Yost’s office said that state code permits him to “initiate a criminal proceeding for election fraud … by presenting evidence of the violation to the county prosecutor.” The attorney general may then prosecute the individuals “if the county prosecutor fails to proceed with the prosecution ‘within a reasonable amount of time.’”

Each case was referred to the respective county prosecutor, Yost’s office said.

“The right to vote is sacred,” Yost said. “If you’re not a U.S. citizen, it’s illegal to vote — whether you thought you were allowed or not — you will be held accountable. Irregularities like this are rare, and this is a small number of cases,” Yost said. “We should all be confident in the upcoming election knowing that the laws are being enforced and will continue to be enforced.”

Surely the news out of Ohio comes as a shock to every American who has been “reliably” informed by Democrats that noncitizen voting in federal elections is a nonissue since it’s already illegal.

But drinking and driving is already illegal too, as is rape and murder — yet all of those things happen quite frequently.

In fact, just last month Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird brought voter fraud charges against Jorge Oscar Sanchez-Vasquez for “registering to vote and illegally voting on the same day, July 16, 2024, in a special election for the Marshalltown City Council” despite noncitizen voting in federal elections already being illegal.

But Republicans and a handful of House Democrats understand that just because something is illegal doesn’t mean it’s not happening, which is why the House recently passed the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The SAVE Act would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act to require prospective voters provide documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. The legislation would help prevent noncitizens from getting onto voter rolls in the first place.

After the House passed the SAVE Act, Democrats and their propaganda press allies came out swinging, vowing to block the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the proposal, arguing the “odds of a shutdown” would increase if the SAVE Act was included. President Joe Biden also said he opposed the election integrity measure.

In response, Republicans tried to tie the SAVE Act to a continuing resolution to keep the government funded for six months. But a majority of House Democrats along with 14 Republicans voted against the stopgap bill.

While noncitizens voting — and registering to vote — is already illegal, the only defense mechanism safeguarding U.S. elections from foreign election interference is a small square box on the federal registration form requiring applicants attest under penalty of perjury that they are a citizen. Yes, the honor system.

The insecure system has led to dozens of noncitizens voting in elections in recent years while thousands more potential noncitizens have ended up on voter rolls across states nationwide. North Carolina found in 2016 that 41 noncitizens had cast a ballot in the general election. Just recently Oregon found that nine noncitizens had voted in past elections. The discovery was made after the Secretary of State found “more than 300 noncitizens were erroneously registered to vote,” as my colleague Logan Washburn explained. A subsequent investigation found that in actuality, the state’s “motor voter” system has actually registered 1,259 potential noncitizens to vote, nine of whom did vote.

Meanwhile Pennsylvania, a key swing state, found that 11,198 noncitizens were on its voter rolls in 2019. More recently, Alabama found more than 3,000 potential noncitizens were registered to vote