A 66-year-old Syracuse woman has been charged with voting as a noncitizen in the 2022 U.S. midterm election, after telling investigators she grew up believing she was a U.S. citizen.
A criminal complaint signed by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Ingolf C. Hack alleges Marva Cook knowingly voted while she was not a U.S. citizen. The complaint says she voted in a 2022 election that included contests for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
An affidavit recounts an Oct. 5 interview with HSI agents. Cook said she was adopted and had believed she was a U.S. citizen while growing up. While searching for her biological mother, she said, she found a German birth certificate. Immigration records cited in the affidavit identify her as German and show she entered the United States at age 2 in 1962. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) identifies her as a lawful permanent resident.
Cook faces one count of voting by an alien under federal law, the DOJ said. A conviction could bring up to one year in prison and a fine of as much as $100,000, according to the department. Cook is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charge.
Five other lawful permanent residents appeared on voting-by-alien charges in the district on Oct. 13 and 14, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Oct. 16. Their complaints alleged they knowingly voted in elections that included federal contests, in cases covered earlier by EconoTimes.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Cook turned herself in and appeared in federal court Oct. 21, 2026. She declined to discuss the case when AP reached her Oct. 23. Her lawyer, Paul Tuck, told AP that no hearings or filing deadlines were pending.
