And one defendant allegedly didn’t stop after a single election.
According to prosecutors, he returned to the polls in August 2026.
Federal Prosecutors Target 10 Minnesota Residents
A federal grand jury returned indictments against ten lawful permanent residents on September 24, 2026.
The allegations involve elections stretching from the 2022 midterms through the 2024 presidential contest and into Minnesota’s August 2026 primary.
That timeline makes the cases particularly noteworthy.
Federal authorities allege 63-year-old Ghanaian national Joshua Frederick Kofi Edzie falsely represented himself as a U.S. citizen and voted in October 2024.
But prosecutors say Edzie wasn’t finished.
He allegedly voted again during Minnesota’s August 11, 2026 primary.
If proven, that would mean a noncitizen managed to participate in multiple American elections despite federal law barring noncitizens from voting in federal races.
The defendants reportedly come from several countries, including Ghana, Liberia, Lithuania, Germany, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada and South Africa.
Among them is 78-year-old German national Paul Kras.
Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized that the issue goes beyond the relatively small number of ballots involved.
“Voter fraud erodes the public’s trust in our electoral system.”
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin delivered an even sharper message:
“We will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences.”
Justice Department Announces Cases Across Four States
The Minnesota indictments became part of a broader federal announcement on October 5 involving 16 noncitizens accused of election-related offenses across Minnesota, Florida, Louisiana and Wisconsin.
Federal prosecutors allege that 60-year-old Italian national Andrea Catanese voted in Florida’s 2024 election and later provided false information during the naturalization process.
Three lawful permanent residents from Cuba, Mexico and Nicaragua were accused of illegally voting in Louisiana.
Wisconsin prosecutors, meanwhile, allege that 30-year-old North Macedonian national Sara Luma registered on Election Day after certifying that she was a citizen.
Those cases follow another federal enforcement action announced September 19 involving 16 defendants across seven states, including Georgia, Idaho and Texas.
Mullin said at that point that his department had 1,620 open cases and had made 151 arrests.
The numbers raise an obvious question: How many noncitizens can make it through voter-registration procedures before anyone notices?
Minnesota’s Same-Day Registration System Faces New Scrutiny
Minnesota is one of the states allowing eligible residents to register at their polling place on Election Day.
Its rules also permit a registered voter, under qualifying circumstances, to vouch for other people seeking to establish residence.
Supporters argue that these policies make voting easier for legitimate voters.
Critics contend that they leave too much dependent upon applicants providing truthful information.
The debate became more complicated after Gov. Tim Walz signed Minnesota’s Driver’s Licenses for All law in 2023.
A Minnesota driver’s license, by itself, therefore does not establish that its holder is a U.S. citizen.
Bill Glahn of the Center for the American Experiment offered a blunt description of what critics see as the weakness of systems relying heavily on self-attestation:
“If you signed as Mickey Mouse, they’re not going to find you.”
Heritage Foundation election-law commentator Hans von Spakovsky has made a similar argument about voter-registration safeguards:
“election officials are simply relying on individuals who are registering to vote telling the truth.”
That concern isn’t confined to Minnesota.
Virginia’s effort to remove roughly 1,600 suspected noncitizens from its voter rolls became a major legal fight in 2024 after the Biden Justice Department challenged the state’s removal program.
The Supreme Court ultimately allowed Virginia’s effort to proceed before the election.
Florida Judge Challenges Federal Noncitizen Voting Law
The prosecutions are unfolding as another legal battle threatens to complicate federal enforcement.
U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz recently dismissed a federal noncitizen-voting charge in a Florida case involving a woman accused of obtaining voter registration using a fraudulent birth certificate.
The Biden-appointed judge questioned whether Congress has constitutional authority to impose the federal prohibition at issue.
“Congress has no power to say who can vote or who cannot vote.”
That conclusion could have consequences far beyond one defendant if other courts adopt the same constitutional interpretation.
Several defendants included in the Justice Department’s latest enforcement announcement face charges under the federal statute prohibiting noncitizen voting.
For conservatives demanding tighter election safeguards, the collision between the Minnesota indictments and the Florida ruling highlights a much bigger problem.
Federal prosecutors are attempting to punish people accused of illegally entering the electoral process while a federal judge is simultaneously questioning whether Congress can criminalize that conduct in the first place.
Minnesota’s Honor System Deserves Answers
Minnesota voters have already watched state government come under fierce criticism over the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scandal, in which hundreds of millions of dollars intended for children’s meals were allegedly stolen through fraudulent claims.
The latest federal election cases involve a completely different subject and should not be conflated with that scandal.
But both controversies raise a politically damaging question for Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota officials: Were basic safeguards strong enough?
If prosecutors prove that a lawful permanent resident falsely claimed citizenship and successfully voted not merely once but again in the August 2026 primary, Minnesota officials will have serious questions to answer about how that happened.
Election integrity should not depend solely upon hoping every person filling out a form is telling the truth.
American citizens should be able to know that every lawful ballot counts — and that people who are not legally entitled to vote are stopped before their ballots enter the system, rather than prosecuted afterward.
The Minnesota indictments give supporters of proof-of-citizenship requirements fresh ammunition.
And with federal prosecutors now bringing noncitizen-voting cases across multiple states, the argument over citizenship verification is unlikely to disappear before the next major election.
For Republicans, the solution is straightforward: verify citizenship before registration rather than discovering an allegedly illegal voter after the election is already over.
