Skid Row forgeries, illegal votes and a mayoral candidate: Election fraud cases pile up nationwide

Justice Department Unveils 11 Non‑Citizen Voting Cases Across Five States

The administration’s latest wave of prosecutions underscores a broader effort to tighten election security ahead of the 2024 midterms.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday a slate of 11 federal cases that allege non‑citizens fraudulently registered to vote or cast ballots in state and federal elections. The indictments span California, Kansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Massachusetts and involve a mix of fraudulent voter registration, identity theft, and false claims of U.S. citizenship.

In a statement released to the press, White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said the new cases “demonstrate the continued mounting evidence that non‑citizens are registering and voting in our elections.” “Any non‑citizens found registering and voting in our elections will be arrested and held accountable,” she added, echoing Attorney General Merrick Garland’s broader warning that individuals “gaming the election system” will face prosecution.

The DOJ’s announcements come amid a broader Trump‑era push to tighten voter‑roll integrity. Federal prosecutors have already pursued 33 cases involving alleged non‑citizen voting across the country in the last two months.

Louisiana: A Mayor’s Registration Scheme

In Louisiana, former mayoral candidate Bridget Johnson faces charges of fraudulent voter registration and voting by an alien. According to court documents, Johnson electronically filed a voter‑registration application on July 14, 2024, for Michael Wedderburn, a Jamaican citizen who had never been in the United States. The application falsely declared that Wedderburn was a U.S. citizen. Wedderburn, in turn, is charged with voting as an alien in the 2024 federal election and the same mayoral race in which Johnson was a candidate.

If convicted, Johnson faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison; Wedderburn faces up to one year and possible fines. The case illustrates how local political ambitions can intersect with national election‑security concerns.

California: Stolen Identities on Skid Row

Three defendants—James Brass, Courtney Price, and Jateisha Herron—are accused of orchestrating a scheme that used stolen voter identities to forge signatures on ballot‑initiative petitions in Los Angeles. Prosecutors say the trio recruited homeless individuals from Skid Row, giving them the personal data of registered voters and paying them to copy that information onto petitions and to forge signatures.

Brass allegedly received roughly $41,600 from a petition‑management company that coordinated the signature collection. The indictment also charges Brass with falsely certifying that he had personally witnessed the signatures of the voters whose identities were used.

The California case comes after a May indictment of a ballot‑initiative signature collector who had similarly paid homeless people to forge signatures—showing that the DOJ is tracking a pattern of leveraging marginalized populations for illegal electoral gain.

Kansas: Peruvian National’s False Citizenship Claim

In Kansas, Mariana Alexandra Dewey—a 24‑year‑old Peruvian national and U.S. permanent resident—was arrested earlier this month and later charged with falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, fraudulent election conduct, and voting as an alien in a federal election. Dewey’s indictment centers on her attempts to register to vote using a forged U.S. citizenship statement while she was still a foreign national.

The Kansas case underscores the DOJ’s focus on individuals who claim citizenship without proof, a tactic that can give them access to federal elections.

Massachusetts: Nigerian National’s Voter Registration

Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts announced the indictment of Gladys Adaeze Okafor, a Nigerian national who allegedly registered to vote by falsely claiming U.S. citizenship. Okafor then cast ballots in multiple federal elections, according to the indictment.

Her case is part of a broader pattern of non‑citizen voting allegations that have emerged across the country, with the DOJ asserting that “any non‑citizens found registering and voting… will be arrested and held accountable.”

Texas: Driver‑License Fraud and Identity Theft

Texas prosecutors announced several new cases in which individuals illegally registered to vote while applying for a Texas driver’s license. The same day these cases were unveiled, a Mexican national was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for aggravated identity theft, false statements of citizenship, and illegal voting as an alien. The sentencing demonstrates the DOJ’s willingness to impose significant penalties on those who use fraudulent identities to influence elections.

National Context

The DOJ’s latest indictments come on the heels of earlier cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wisconsin, as well as a recent indictment of an Indian national in Minnesota for false citizenship claims. Together, these 33 cases—announced in the past two months—highlight a federal effort to deter non‑citizen participation in U.S. elections.

Attorney General Garland’s office has repeatedly warned that individuals who “game the election system” will face prosecution, a stance echoed by White House spokesperson Lauren Bis. The DOJ’s strategy appears aimed at both discouraging non‑citizens from attempting to vote and reinforcing the legitimacy of the electoral process.

Supreme Court Ruling on Ballot‑Mail Rules

Amid these prosecutions, the Supreme Court issued a ruling Monday that blocked the Trump‑era executive order that would have imposed stricter ballot‑mail requirements on the 2026 elections. The order had mandated that states use specially designed ballot‑mail envelopes with unique voter barcodes, submit designs to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), and provide the service with details of intended recipients.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed that the rules could not take effect for the current election cycle, citing insufficient implementation time for state and local officials. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. The ruling does not, however, invalidate a separate part of Trump’s March executive order that directs the federal government to create citizenship lists that states can use to check voter rolls.

Trump has branded the decision a “bad decision” and called the dissenting justices “legends,” arguing that the blocked rules would make cheating through mail ballots easier. Critics, however, contend that the order would have added an extra layer of verification for mail ballots and that the Supreme Court’s injunction preserves the current, less stringent process.

Looking Ahead

The DOJ’s string of indictments