Three aliens from Mexico, Venezuela, and Antigua and Barbuda face federal charges for allegedly voting illegally in recent federal elections.
“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,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Maintaining the integrity of our elections and protecting the voting rights of citizens are among the highest priorities of my office. We will work with federal law enforcement and our state partners to vigorously safeguard those rights through the prosecutions brought to date and more that may soon follow.”
“Protecting the integrity of U.S. elections requires enforcing the laws that govern who may lawfully participate,” said Ryan McSeveney, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service Miami Field Office, which oversees the Southeastern United States. “DSS is committed to working closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of unlawful voting and related document and identity fraud.”
“When a foreign national votes in U.S. elections, it violates federal law and undermines public trust in our election system,” said Ellen Johnson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI in Georgia and Alabama. “HSI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate illegal voting and protect the integrity of America’s immigration and election systems.”
According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: Since September 1, 2026, three foreign nationals have been charged with voting in federal elections in the Northern District of Georgia.
Pauline Lewis, 65, an alien residing in Dawsonville, Georgia, is alleged to have voted by absentee ballot in the November 5, 2024, January 5, 2021, and November 3, 2020 federal elections. Lewis is allegedly a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda who entered the United States on a student visa in 1979 and remained in the country but never applied to become a U.S. citizen. Today, she appeared in federal court following her arrest on a criminal complaint charging her with voting as a non-citizen in a federal election.
Gabriel Covarrubias, 44, an alien residing in Lawrenceville, Georgia, is alleged to have voted in person using a false name in the November 5, 2024 federal election. Covarrubias is allegedly a citizen of Mexico who falsely claimed in a U.S. passport application submitted in March 2023 that he had a different name and was born in Puerto Rico. On September 1, 2026, he waived indictment and was charged by criminal information with making a false statement in a U.S. passport application and voting as a non-citizen in a federal election.
Analiea Milliscent Eccles, 43, an alien residing in Morrow, Georgia, is alleged to have voted nine times between 2008 and 2024. Eccles is allegedly a citizen of Venezuela who 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 (DACA) status in 2013. Although she allegedly sought to renew that status earlier this year, she has never applied to become a U.S. citizen. On September 14, 2026, she appeared in federal court following her arrest on a criminal complaint charging her with voting as a non-citizen in a federal election and making a false claim of U.S. citizenship to vote in an election.
Members of the public are reminded that the complaints and information only contain charges. The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
The cases are being investigated by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with valuable assistance from the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State.
