The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 64 foreign nationals across 17 states with unlawful voting, fraudulent voter registration, and other election-related offenses over approximately the past five weeks, federal prosecutors said. The enforcement action represents an intensified focus on voter-registration safeguards as the nation approaches the November 2026 midterm elections.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that nine lawful permanent residents illegally voted in Minnesota federal elections, with most falsely claiming to be U.S. citizens on voter registration forms. According to Justice Department figures provided to Fox News Digital, Minnesota leads the nation in the current crackdown with 11 defendants charged. Pennsylvania follows with 10 defendants, and Texas with nine. Louisiana accounts for five defendants, while New Jersey, California, and Florida each have four, according to the department's tally.
The charges involve allegations ranging from fraudulent registration applications to casting ballots in multiple elections. In Minnesota, Ghanaian green card holder Joshua Kofi Edzie was charged with illegally voting in the state's August 2026 primary and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship on a voter registration form. In Pennsylvania, prosecutors charged Filipino national Evelyn Miller of Emmaus with illegally voting in the 2024 presidential election; she pleaded guilty and faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Also in Pennsylvania, Haitian national Cliff Sanon was charged with submitting a fraudulent voter registration application in Philadelphia County after allegedly submitting eight registration applications and voting in the November 2022 election. In Louisiana, an ex-mayoral candidate was indicted on charges of voting by an alien.
A Justice Department spokesperson emphasized the significance of even small numbers of illegal votes, noting that in 2020, Iowa's 2nd Congressional District race was decided by six votes when Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks defeated Democrat Rita Hart. "Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen," the spokesperson said. The department stated it is bringing more than twice as many election-fraud cases each week as the six-vote margin in that Iowa race.
The prosecutions span both Democratic-led and Republican-led states. The cases represent part of a broader enforcement effort: the DOJ said it has charged 104 people with voting fraud-related offenses since the Trump administration took office in January 2025. A U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania stated, "We intend to prosecute anyone who corrupts our democracy by illegally voting in its elections."
The Justice Department said noncitizen and ineligible-voter fraud is a federal crime and pledged to enforce the law "whether a case involves one illegal ballot or hundreds." The crackdown comes amid heightened attention to election integrity and voter-roll management ahead of the midterm elections.
