The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Nov. 2 that charges in election-related cases involve 63 people, one day before the next regularly scheduled federal general election.
The cases include allegations of unlawful voting, false claims of U.S. citizenship and a fraudulent voter-registration application submitted in another state. The DOJ said four people were in the country illegally.
The department also said it had charged 195 noncitizens across 25 states with voting and registration offenses in the preceding nine weeks, and 239 people with voting-fraud-related offenses since the administration began. The release gave no further breakdown of those totals. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the announcement marked the largest surge of voter-fraud arrests since President Donald Trump returned to office.
Some cases on the list had been announced earlier. Texas federal prosecutors announced five cases on Oct. 30, the DOJ announced 18 North Carolina cases on Oct. 29, and Maryland federal prosecutors announced a case against Mohammad Hachibur Rahman on Oct. 27. The Nov. 2 release did not say whether all cases involving the 63 people were newly filed that day.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 611, federal law generally bars noncitizens from voting in elections that include federal candidates, while allowing certain local contests where state or local law permits. The charges are allegations, not findings of guilt. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) lists Nov. 3 as the next regularly scheduled federal general election.
