October 1, 2026
ATLANTA — After federal prosecutors charged three noncitizens with voting illegally in Georgia, the man who oversees voting in the state pointed to an audit he ordered four years ago.
Last week, the U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta announced that three people from other countries had been charged with voting in federal elections in recent years despite not being U.S. citizens.
The cases were investigated by two federal agencies, with “valuable” assistance from the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State.
This week, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger pointed to that credit, explaining that in 2022 he had ordered an audit that found 1,634 people had tried to register to vote in Georgia though their citizenship could not be verified through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program.
“These cases show exactly why citizenship verification matters,” Raffensperger said in a statement.
Pauline Lewis, 65, of Dawsonville, allegedly a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda who entered the United States on a student visa in 1979, voted by absentee ballot in 2020, 2021 and 2024, the office of U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement.
Gabriel Covarrubias, 44, of Lawrenceville, allegedly used a false name to vote in the 2024 general election, Hertzberg’s office said. Covarrubias is allegedly a citizen of Mexico who claimed he was from Puerto Rico.
And Analiea Milliscent Eccles, 43, of Morrow, allegedly voted nine times between 2008 and 2024 despite being a citizen of Venezuela, Hertzberg’s office said, adding that she allegedly entered the United States on a temporary visitor visa in 1991 and remained in the country, applying for and receiving Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status in 2013.
“Voting in federal elections is a sacred right reserved to U.S. citizens, and every vote illegally cast by an alien cancels out a legal vote,” Hertzberg said in a statement. “Maintaining the integrity of our elections and protecting the voting rights of citizens are among the highest priorities of my office.”
The penalty for voting as a noncitizen is a fine, up to a year in prison, or both. The penalty for making a false claim of citizenship to register to vote includes imprisonment for up to five years.
The penalties are rarely applied because relatively few are caught committing the crime.
In late 2024, Raffensperger announced the results of an audit that found 20 noncitizens had illegally registered to vote, with nine of them actually casting ballots.
That year, nearly 5.3 million Georgians cast a ballot in the general election.
Now, as Georgians prepare to head to the polls for the general election, more than 8.2 million are registered to vote.
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