Federal authorities have charged two noncitizens living in New Jersey with voting illegally in U.S. elections and making false statements on their citizenship applications, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The charges, announced by the agency, land just weeks after state officials disclosed that roughly 6,600 noncitizens had been registered to vote in New Jersey through what the governor described as a software error.
Patrick Terrence Reid, a 61-year-old Jamaican national, and Danubis Bernat, a 49-year-old Venezuelan national, were each charged by separate complaints with voting by an alien in a federal election and making false statements while applying for U.S. citizenship, USCIS said. Both are accused of attesting that they were U.S. citizens when they registered to vote.
What the Complaints Allege
According to USCIS, Reid allegedly cast ballots in person in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, then voted again by mail in the 2020 and 2024 presidential contests. Bernat is accused of voting in person in the 2024 election. The agency said both men claimed on their citizenship applications that they had never registered to vote or voted in any federal elections — statements that, if false, would constitute separate criminal violations.
The case illustrates what election integrity advocates have long argued is the central weakness of the current registration system: aside from the threats of criminal prosecution, the only real barrier standing between a noncitizen and a federal ballot is a checkbox on a registration form requiring applicants to attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. That honor system appeared to break down in both Reid’s and Bernat’s cases, as they allegedly attested to citizenship they did not hold.
The New Jersey Voter Roll Problem
The federal charges arrive on the heels of a far larger disclosure from New Jersey officials. Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in September that approximately 6,600 people who had indicated they were not U.S. citizens had been registered to vote anyway — a problem she attributed to a software error. The individuals, she said, answered “no” when asked on a keypad whether they were U.S. citizens while applying for driver’s licenses and identification cards, but the system registered them regardless.
Sherrill said the registrations occurred between June 2023 and June 2024, before she took office. A preliminary analysis showed that hundreds of noncitizens went on to vote, according to the governor.
The governor said she ordered the noncitizens removed from the voter rolls, but the New Jersey Department of State declined to fulfill a request from The Federalist for the individuals’ voter records or to disclose a breakdown of their party affiliation. Sherrill also refused to turn that information over to the Department of Justice, according to the outlet.
The Federalist previously reported that at least eight of the state’s 21 counties had noncitizens on their voter rolls, with several of those individuals saying they did not understand how they had been registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles.
A Wider Fight Over Voter Rolls
New Jersey is one of 30 states the Justice Department has sued for refusing to hand over voter rolls so they can be cross-checked for improper registrations. The department has been pursuing such records as part of an effort to identify noncitizens who may be improperly registered.
At the center of the national debate is the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, a Republican-backed measure that would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act to require documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification to vote. Under current law, the NVRA requires automatic voter registration at DMVs and — following the Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona — bars states from demanding documentary proof of citizenship for federal registration forms.
Supporters of the SAVE Act argue that it would close the gap that allowed the New Jersey registrations and the alleged voting by Reid and Bernat. If enacted, the bill would require actual proof of citizenship rather than a self-attestation checked “yes” or “no” under penalty of perjury. The legislation has stalled amid Democratic opposition, and the dispute over the New Jersey rolls has become a fresh flashpoint in that broader fight.
The charges against Reid and Bernat are complaints at this stage, and both men are presumed innocent unless and until they are convicted. USCIS did not release additional details about how the cases came to the attention of federal investigators or whether the defendants have entered pleas or retained counsel.
Source: thefederalist.com — https://thefederalist.com/2026/09/28/feds-charge-two-with-illegally-voting-months-after-6600-noncitizens-found-on-nj-voter-rolls/