The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday, October 29, that 18 more noncitizens have been charged in federal court with illegally voting in North Carolina elections — a new round of cases, filed across all three of the state's federal judicial districts just five days before the November 3 midterms, that brings the total number of people charged in North Carolina this year for illegal voting to 30. All of the charges are allegations; every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Nine of the new defendants were charged in the Eastern District of North Carolina, five in the Middle District and four in the Western District, prosecutors said. In the Western District, the defendants include three Charlotte residents and one resident of Conover; the Middle District cases involve people from Concord, Salisbury, Reidsville, Seagrove and Winston-Salem. According to the Justice Department, most of those charged are lawful permanent residents — green-card holders — who are not U.S. citizens and are not permitted to vote in federal elections; one defendant, a Guatemalan man living in Robeson County, was described by the department as an illegal alien.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Oct. 29, 2026
The Duplin County case
Public Radio East identified one of the Eastern District defendants as Jacqueline Papandreou Brown, 63, of Duplin County — a native of Singapore and a citizen of the United Kingdom who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States. According to the Justice Department, Brown registered to vote in 2020 and cast a ballot in the November 2024 general election. She faces two federal charges: falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to vote, and voting as a noncitizen.
Source: Public Radio East, Oct. 30, 2026
Some are accused of voting for decades
Several of the new cases allege voting stretched over many election cycles. Prosecutors say a Kenyan-born green-card holder in Harnett County registered in 2008 and voted in nine general elections, from 2008 through 2024, plus nine primary elections. A Bermuda native in Wake County allegedly registered in 2000 and voted in 12 general elections going back to the 2000 election. The Robeson County defendant is accused of registering in 2020 and voting in both the 2020 and 2024 general elections. The defendants come from at least 16 countries, the department said, including Guatemala, Kenya, Bermuda, Jamaica, Colombia, the United Kingdom, Greece, the Netherlands, Mexico, Cuba, Barbados, Argentina, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, France and St. Kitts and Nevis. The allegations centre mainly on the 2024 general election, although prosecutors say some defendants voted in multiple elections over several years.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Oct. 29, 2026
What prosecutors said
“Illegal voting is just that: illegal,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter. “If you're not an American citizen, you cannot vote in our federal elections.” U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle of the Eastern District said: “If you vote illegally, we are looking, we will find out, and we will prosecute you.” U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson of the Western District pointed to how close North Carolina races can be: in the state's 2025 municipal elections, he noted, 14 races were decided by two votes, 15 races by a single vote, and seven races ended in a tie.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Oct. 29, 2026
The charges and the penalties
Falsely claiming U.S. citizenship in order to vote carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Voting as a noncitizen carries up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. The cases are being investigated by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in elections for federal office, and a conviction can also carry immigration consequences beyond the criminal sentence — a point of direct relevance to green-card holders, whose status does not include the franchise.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Oct. 29, 2026
Background: an enforcement drive this newsroom has tracked all month
Thursday's cases are the newest layer of a wider federal push in North Carolina that Awaaz Punjab has covered as it built: earlier federal cases in the state — including a round of HSI and FBI noncitizen-voting indictments in October — brought the running total up before this week's announcement added 18 more and took it to 30 for the year. The charges land in the same final pre-election week in which the Justice Department and DHS have publicised voter-fraud arrests nationally, and in which a federal appeals court on Friday kept in place an injunction — in a separate case — barring DHS agents from making home visits to likely U.S. citizens in nine states. The North Carolina cases involve people prosecutors say are not citizens at all; that distinction is the centre of both stories.
Source: Awaaz Punjab earlier reporting, October 2026; U.S. Department of Justice
A green card gives a person the right to live and work in the United States permanently — it does not give the right to vote in federal elections, and registering or voting before naturalization can bring federal criminal charges and put immigration status itself at risk. With Punjabi and other immigrant families in North Carolina — around Charlotte, Raleigh and the Triad especially — now weeks or days from an election, the practical rule from these cases is simple: if you are not yet a U.S. citizen, do not register and do not vote in federal elections, and if you registered in the past by mistake, seek immigration legal advice before taking any further step.
What happens next
The 18 defendants will make initial appearances and be arraigned in the Eastern, Middle and Western District courts in the coming days, and their cases will proceed separately; prosecutors will have to prove each allegation in court. The announcements leave a factual question for the North Carolina State Board of Elections — how the registrations at issue passed verification — which the board has yet to answer publicly in these cases. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and early voting is already under way across the state.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Oct. 29, 2026; Public Radio East, Oct. 30, 2026