Coalition study reports almost 2,000 noncitizens voted in Florida

A volunteer coalition of Florida election-integrity groups says 1,827 noncitizens removed from the state’s voter rolls since 2020 cast 7,035 ballots during their time registered, and that few faced prosecution, according to a report dated Sept. 16 and reported Wednesday by The Daily Signal.

There were “enough ballots to have impacted election outcomes in small and large county races that had a narrow margin of victory,” the report says.

The Joint Task Force obtained records from all 67 Florida counties on 5,612 people removed as noncitizens between 2020 and mid-2026, who had been registered an average of 11 years. It cited a 2021 special election in Florida’s 20th Congressional District decided by five votes, in which it counted five known noncitizens voting in the district, and a 2018 Baker County School Board race decided by three votes, with five. The report does not say how those ballots were cast.

Seventeen people were reported arrested or convicted between 2022 and 2025 for lying on voter registration applications, and 51 for illegal voting, according to the report. Those figures also include felons and others. It estimates over 70% of removed noncitizens were not subjected to even a preliminary investigation. In Palm Beach County, no more than 8% of 972 removals were reported to state election-crimes investigators. None were reported to federal authorities, and 334 re-registered after removal.

The report acknowledges many of the 5,612 were likely self-reported, since immigrants seeking naturalization can ask to be removed. It estimates tens to hundreds of thousands more remain on the rolls, extrapolating from driver’s license data in two counties where officials found most flagged people had since been naturalized.

Baker County Supervisor of Elections Chris Milton told the Daily Signal he knew of no noncitizens voting in his county. Palm Beach County’s elections office said it could not validate the analysis without access to the underlying data.

Florida attorney general James Uthmeier announced in September the arrest of 20 people for election-related crimes. 

“Florida will not allow anyone to steal the vote of Americans at the ballot box,” Uthmeier said at a press conference. “These defendants swore they were qualified electors, cast ballots in our elections, and later confirmed they were never eligible to vote.” 

Florida’s SAVE Act takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, after the November election. It revises the state’s voter registration processes to require a check of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles’ REAL ID data to determine a person’s citizenship status for both new voter registrations and updates to existing ones. The law also eliminates previously accepted forms of ID for proving citizenship, including IDs for students, retirement centers, homeowners agreements, and government assistance programs. The penalty for submitting false information when registering to vote increases to a third-degree felony. 

Nationally, the Justice Department (DOJ) has been focused on prosecuting more noncitizens for voting or lying about their citizenship status. On Oct. 12, the DOJ announced charges against 16 people, mostly noncitizens, in several states for illegal voting and related crimes. A department official told Fox News in September that the administration has charged 50 noncitizens with illegal voting since January 2025.