The Justice Department has announced more than a dozen new federal election-fraud cases this week, spanning California, Kansas, Louisiana, Texas and Massachusetts, as the Trump administration continues its push on election security ahead of the 2026 midterms.
The charges range from illegal voting and false claims of U.S. citizenship to fraudulent voter registration and identity fraud. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche warned that people “gaming the election system, voting illegally, or committing voter fraud” will be prosecuted. Federal prosecutors in Texas said their seven cases there “send a clear message” that laws barring noncitizens from voting will be enforced.
White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the new cases undercut critics who dismiss the issue. “Despite extreme Democrats and the media claiming it never happens, the evidence of non-citizens registering and voting in our elections continues to pile up,” Bis told Fox News Digital. “Any non-citizens found registering and voting in our elections will be arrested and held accountable. Only Americans should be electing American leaders.”
A Louisiana Mayoral Race
Among the defendants is Louisiana mayoral candidate Bridget Johnson, accused of fraudulently registering Jamaican national Michael Wedderburn to vote. Prosecutors say Wedderburn went on to cast ballots in the 2024 federal election and in the same mayoral race in which Johnson was running. Court documents allege Johnson electronically submitted a Louisiana voter-registration application in Wedderburn’s name on July 14, 2024, falsely claiming he was a U.S. citizen.
Johnson is charged with fraudulent voter registration and voting by an alien, facing up to five years in prison if convicted. Wedderburn is charged with voting by an alien and faces up to one year, along with possible fines.
Skid Row Signature Forgeries
In California, prosecutors have charged James Brass, Courtney Price and Jateisha Herron in an alleged scheme that used stolen identities of registered voters to fabricate signatures on ballot-initiative petitions. California relies heavily on ballot initiatives, including recent measures such as Proposition 36, which raised penalties for certain drug and theft crimes, and other measures affecting the minimum wage and rent control.
Prosecutors allege Brass and Price traveled to Los Angeles’ Skid Row, where they gave people stolen identities of registered California voters and paid them to copy that personal information onto petitions and forge signatures. Brass and Herron are then accused of falsely certifying that they had personally witnessed the registered voters sign. Brass allegedly received about $41,600 from coordinators tied to a petition-management company.
It is the second election-related federal case this year tied to alleged payments made to people on Skid Row. In May, federal prosecutors charged a longtime ballot-initiative signature collector with paying individuals, including homeless residents of Skid Row, to register to vote.
More Cases Across the Country
In Kansas, prosecutors charged 24-year-old Peruvian national and U.S. permanent resident Mariana Alexandra Dewey with falsely claiming U.S. citizenship, fraudulent election conduct and voting as an alien in a federal election. She was arrested earlier this month.
In Massachusetts, federal prosecutors charged Nigerian national Gladys Adaeze Okafor with claiming to be a U.S. citizen while registering to vote and then casting ballots in multiple federal elections.
In Texas, prosecutors announced several cases in which individuals allegedly registered to vote illegally while applying for a Texas driver’s license. The same day those defendants were indicted, a Mexican national was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for aggravated identity theft, false statements of citizenship, and illegal voting by an alien.
These cases follow other recent prosecutions: less than two weeks ago, the Justice Department charged five people in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Wisconsin over alleged illegal voting or fraudulent registration connected to the 2022 or 2024 elections. Separately, DOJ last week charged an Indian national in Minnesota with falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to vote in the 2024 general election.
A Setback at the Supreme Court
Despite the mounting prosecutions, the administration hit a legal snag this week. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the U.S. Postal Service could not implement President Trump’s stricter mail-ballot requirements for the 2026 elections, leaving a lower court’s nationwide injunction in place. The blocked rules would have required states to use specially designed mail-ballot envelopes with unique voter barcodes, submit envelope designs to USPS for review, and share information about intended ballot recipients.
The ruling did not affect a separate portion of Trump’s March executive order directing the federal government to compile citizenship lists for states to check against voter rolls.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, agreed the rules should not take effect this year because state and local officials lacked sufficient time to implement them, though he wrote there was “at least a fair prospect” that the Postal Service ultimately has the statutory authority to impose such requirements. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.
Trump criticized the ruling Tuesday as another “bad decision” from the Supreme Court, calling Alito and Thomas “legends” and arguing the decision would make cheating through mail ballots easier.
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