Federal Charges for Noncitizen Voting: What Green Card Holders in Florida Need to Know Before the Midterms

Updated October 16, 2026. This post now covers the October 1 ruling in United States v. Cox, Florida's September 24 state charges, and new Middle District of Florida cases. It also corrects an earlier statement about intent: in the Eleventh Circuit, Section 611 is a general-intent crime, and the knowledge requirement belongs to the false-claim felony under Section 1015(f).

Federal prosecutors have filed noncitizen voting cases at a rate of more than one a day since early September, and Florida is in the middle of it. On September 24 the State charged 20 people, 16 of them noncitizens. The Middle District of Florida has filed new federal cases. And on October 1, a federal judge in Miami held that the federal misdemeanor statute for noncitizen voting could not be applied to the defendant in front of him. Most of those charged are lawful permanent residents, and most cases turn on a box checked on a voter registration form. If you hold a green card and you registered to vote in Florida, this is no longer hypothetical.

Key Takeaways

• A Miami federal judge held 18 U.S.C. § 611 unconstitutional as applied in United States v. Cox, and the government appealed to the Eleventh Circuit.
• Cox does not reach the felonies: a false citizenship claim under 18 U.S.C. § 1015(f) carries five years; naturalization fraud under § 1425 carries ten.
• Florida charged 20 people under Fla. Stat. § 104.15 on September 24, and both the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida are bringing federal cases.
• Unlawful voting makes a noncitizen deportable under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(6) whether or not there is ever a criminal conviction.
• The useful window is before agents interview you and before a charging decision, when count selection and declination are still open.

What Changed in Florida Since September

The federal pace has not slowed. The Justice Department announced charges against 16 people in seven states on September 18 and kept announcing new groups of cases into October. Most defendants are lawful permanent residents. The typical allegation is a single registration followed by a vote in 2022 or 2024, and in some cases registration alone.

Florida's prosecutors moved at the same time. On September 24, the Attorney General and the Governor announced felony charges against 20 people at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth Beach: 16 noncitizens accused of registering by falsely claiming citizenship and then voting, and four people accused of voting while on felony probation. The Office of Statewide Prosecution is handling the cases.

Federal cases followed in the Middle District. A lawful permanent resident in Citrus County was charged by information with one count of voting by an alien. A lawful permanent resident in Pasco County was indicted on a voting count plus two naturalization counts, after allegedly telling immigration officials on his citizenship application that he had never voted. That second case is the pattern this post describes: the vote is the misdemeanor, and the citizenship application is the felony.

None of this is new to South Florida. The Southern District announced three guilty pleas in noncitizen voting cases in June. What changed in September is volume and coordination. Southern District of Florida federal defense lawyers should expect this category on the docket through 2027.

The Cox Ruling: Real, Narrow, and on Appeal

On October 1, a Southern District of Florida judge dismissed the federal case in United States v. Cox. The defendant was charged with a single misdemeanor count under 18 U.S.C. § 611 for allegedly voting in Broward County in the 2020 presidential election. In a 31-page order, the court held that the statute could not constitutionally be applied to her: the Constitution leaves voter qualifications to the states, and Section 611 sets a qualification rather than regulating how federal elections are run.

The ruling is as-applied; the court declined to strike the statute on its face. It does not say noncitizens may vote, and it notes that Florida can and does prosecute the same conduct. The government filed its notice of appeal the next day. The Eleventh Circuit will likely focus on Oregon v. Mitchell, the Supreme Court's fractured 1970 decision on congressional power over voter qualifications. That court upheld Section 611 in 2007 against a different challenge, one about intent, which the Cox court found did not answer this question.

Anyone charged under Section 611 should raise and preserve the constitutional issue now. But keep it in proportion. A district court ruling binds no other judge, and it reaches only the misdemeanor. The counts that carry real prison time are untouched.

How These Cases Are Built

These prosecutions start with a records match, not a tip. Election officials run voter rolls against federal immigration data and refer the hits. Prosecutors then pull the registration form, the DMV file, the naturalization file, and the voting history. By the time anyone knocks, the government already has the paper.

These prosecutions start with a records match, not a tip. By the time anyone knocks, the government already has the paper.

Florida built this pipeline early. The Office of Election Crimes and Security, created under Fla. Stat. § 97.022, investigates and refers election crimes. Its January 2026 report identified 198 likely noncitizens who registered or voted in 2025 and referred 170 of them to law enforcement. Florida also led a multistate agreement with DHS for expanded access to the federal SAVE citizenship database, and in July a federal court ordered DHS to restore Florida's bulk-search access.

One Duval County case this fall followed the sequence step by step: a complaint from the Office of Election Crimes in July, a USCIS certificate showing no record of naturalization in August, an attempted interview at the person's home days later, and an arrest warrant in September. The knock on the door came after the file was built, not before.

Exposure: The Counts That Matter Are Not the Voting Counts

Voting by an alien under Section 611 is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year. It is also the easiest count to prove. The Eleventh Circuit treats it as a general-intent crime, so the government does not have to show the person knew voting was unlawful. The statutory defense is a narrow exception for people who reasonably believed they were citizens because their parents are or were citizens and they lived here before age 16.

The felony counts are where the exposure sits. A false claim of citizenship made to register or vote under 18 U.S.C. § 1015(f) carries five years, and unlike Section 611, it requires proof that the person knowingly made the false claim. The election provisions at 52 U.S.C. § 20511 also carry five. A false claim of citizenship under 18 U.S.C. § 911 carries three, and a false statement to agents under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 carries five. Naturalization fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1425 carries ten and, on conviction, revocation of citizenship under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(e). A false passport application under 18 U.S.C. § 1542 carries ten.

Florida charges the same conduct. Fla. Stat. § 104.15 makes it a third-degree felony for a person who knows they are not a qualified elector to willfully vote, and Fla. Stat. § 104.011 covers false swearing and false voter registration information. Each count carries up to five years. Because Florida and the United States are separate sovereigns, both can prosecute the same vote, and the order in which the cases resolve can change the immigration outcome.

The felony counts are where the exposure sits. Because Florida and the United States are separate sovereigns, both can prosecute the same vote.

Then there is the consequence no judge controls. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(6), a noncitizen who has voted in violation of any federal, state, or local law is deportable. A conviction is not required; it only makes the case easier to prove. Unlawful voting is also a ground of inadmissibility under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(10)(D), and a false claim of citizenship carries its own inadmissibility ground with no general waiver. Probation on a misdemeanor changes none of that.

The Mistakes That Turn a Form Into an Indictment

Talking to agents. These interviews are short and feel informal. An agent asks whether you registered, whether you knew you were ineligible, and who helped with the form. Every answer is a potential Section 1001 count, and that count often carries more time than the vote. If FBI or HSI agents are at your door about a voter registration, decline politely and call a federal criminal defense attorney the same day.

Filing for citizenship without advice. The naturalization application asks whether you have ever registered to vote, voted, or claimed to be a U.S. citizen. A false answer turns a one-year misdemeanor into a ten-year felony and puts the citizenship itself at risk. The Pasco County indictment is built on exactly that answer.

"Every answer is a potential Section 1001 count, and that count often carries more time than the vote."— Aaron M. Cohen, AMC Defense Law

Trying to fix it alone. A call or an email to the Supervisor of Elections explaining that you are a permanent resident is a written admission. One of the State's September 24 defendants was charged after sending one. The registration can be cancelled; how that is done matters, and it should be done with counsel.

Assuming registration alone is not a crime. Section 1015(f) is complete when the false citizenship claim is made on the form. Several recent federal cases charge registration without any vote.

Waiting for charges. The facts are largely fixed before anyone is contacted. The charging decision is not, and that is the part a lawyer can still move.

What a Defense Looks Like in These Cases

Start with intent, count by count. Section 1015(f) and Florida's § 104.15 both require proof that the person knew, and that is where many of these cases are weakest. A registration generated at a driver's license counter, filled out by a volunteer, or completed in a second language can undercut it. Section 611 is different. Because it is a general-intent crime in this circuit, the defense on that count runs through the reasonable-belief exception and, after Cox, through the constitutional challenge.

Then work the felony counts down. The negotiation is rarely about whether the person registered. It is about whether the resolution includes a naturalization count, a passport count, or a false-statement count. Pre-charge negotiation with the AUSA on count selection is where a ten-year maximum becomes a one-year maximum, and it happens before an indictment. In state cases, the same conversation happens with the Office of Statewide Prosecution.

Bring immigration counsel in on day one. Padilla v. Kentucky requires advice on deportation consequences, and here the immigration analysis should drive the charge bargaining, not follow it. A plea that looks reasonable on a guidelines sheet can be catastrophic under Sections 1227 and 1182.

Finally, build the person. Long lawful residence, work history, family here, and the absence of any intent to affect an election are the substance of a 3553(a) variance argument and, more usefully, of a declination request. The immigration consequence of a federal sentence belongs in that record from the start.

Why the Election Will Not End This

Election Day is November 3, and announcements have continued into October. The calendar that matters is the statute of limitations. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3282, it is five years. Votes cast in 2020 are now out of reach, but votes from the 2022 midterm remain chargeable until late 2027, and 2024 votes until 2029. Referrals sitting with U.S. Attorney's Offices and the Office of Statewide Prosecution are being worked now.

If you are a noncitizen who registered or voted, or you have received a letter from a state election office, a federal grand jury subpoena, a letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office, or a visit from agents, the useful window is the one before a charging decision. That is federal investigation defense. Once an indictment is returned, the count structure is set, and the immigration consequence largely with it. Before that, count selection, declination, and diversion are still live. A federal grand jury subpoena attorney can engage the office directly.

Common Questions

Under Investigation for Voting or Voter Registration in Florida?

AMC Defense Law represents noncitizens and lawful permanent residents in federal and Florida investigations involving voting, registration, naturalization, passport, and identification document allegations, from Palm Beach County to the Middle District of Florida and nationwide. If you have been contacted by agents, received a letter from a state election office, or been served with a grand jury subpoena, the most useful work happens before a charging decision. Consultations are confidential. Call 561.542.5494 or request a confidential consultation to discuss your situation privately.

About the author. Aaron M. Cohen is the founder and principal attorney of AMC Defense Law, a criminal defense firm in Boca Raton, Florida, with more than 30 years of experience in state and federal courts. He is admitted to practice in Florida, New York, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia, and before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, the Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of New York, the District of New Jersey, and the Northern District of Texas. He appears pro hac vice in other federal districts nationwide. The firm represents clients in federal investigations and prosecutions involving healthcare fraud, Anti-Kickback Statute matters, DME and telemedicine fraud, peptide and compounded-drug enforcement, controlled-substance and drug conspiracy cases, financial crimes, and complex federal litigation, in Florida and nationwide.

This article is for general informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts. If you are under investigation or have been charged, consult a lawyer about your specific situation.