The Justice Department has charged 16 people in seven states with illegally voting, registering to vote, or committing related election crimes.
One defendant, 44-year-old Analiea Milliscent Eccles of Georgia, allegedly voted nine times between 2008 and 2024. The Justice Department identifies Eccles as a Venezuelan national and DACA recipient.
Eccles was arrested on charges of voting as a noncitizen in a federal election and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to vote.
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) pointed to the prosecutions while demanding passage of the SAVE America Act, legislation requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo identification to vote.
“American elections are for American citizens,” Blackburn wrote on social media, citing the charges.
.@TheJusticeDept just charged 16 noncitizens in 7 states for illegally voting. One even voted an astounding nine times.
American elections are for American citizens. We must pass the SAVE AMERICA Act to prevent this fraud from ever happening again.https://t.co/xE0WmWZ2TU
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) September 21, 2026
The Justice Department announced cases in Texas, Idaho, Georgia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Michigan.
The charges range from unlawful voting and false claims of citizenship to wire fraud, passport fraud, naturalization fraud, and firearms offenses uncovered during the investigations.
Texas accounted for half of the 16 defendants. Among them is Monica Carzoli, a 46-year-old lawful permanent resident from Mexico whom the department says admitted registering to vote and casting a ballot in the November 2024 election.
In Georgia, Gabriel Covarrubias allegedly voted in person under a false name in November 2024 and made a false statement on a passport application.
The New Jersey case concerns lawful permanent resident Santana Coulibaly, who registered in 2016, allegedly voted in the 2018 and 2020 federal elections, and submitted a provisional ballot in the 2024 presidential election.
[NOTE: A provisional ballot is used when a voter’s eligibility cannot immediately be confirmed. Election officials investigate the voter’s eligibility before deciding whether to count it.]
“A complaint, indictment, and information merely contain accusations,” the Justice Department said. “All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
[NOTE: Noncitizen voting in federal elections is already illegal. Voting-rights organizations argue that the SAVE America Act could prevent eligible citizens who lack ready access to the required documents from registering or voting.]
While stirring Blackburn to push the SAVE America Act, the announcement of 16 people charged nationwide — for instances dating back almost two decades — is seen by SAVE opponents as proof of their claim that elections are not meaningfully compromised by noncitizen voting.
A Brennan Center for Justice review of the 2016 election found 30 suspected noncitizen votes among 23.5 million ballots. The conservative Heritage Foundation documented 24 cases over the 20 years from 2003 through 2023, Reuters reported.