Canadians charged in U.S. voter fraud crackdown as embassy alleges election interference
At least 11 Canadians face U.S. charges for non-citizen voting; the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa accused Canadian politicians of interfering in American elections.
At least 11 Canadians swept up in U.S. non-citizen voting prosecutions
Robert Harold Corbett believed he was an American citizen until federal agents arrived at his door with an arrest warrant earlier this month. Born in Canada but raised in the United States, Corbett told reporters outside a federal courthouse in Raleigh, N.C., that he did not learn he was adopted until he was 51 years old. He now faces one count of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to vote and one count of voting by an alien. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says he voted in six elections since 1998.
Corbett is among at least 11 Canadians caught up in what ici.radio-canada.ca describes as a broad crackdown on non-citizen voting launched by President Donald Trump's administration ahead of the November midterm elections.
U.S. Embassy accuses Canadian politicians of interference
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa drew a direct link between those prosecutions and what it characterised as Canadian interference in American politics. In a formal statement, the embassy accused Canadian politicians of "openly attempting to influence the U.S. election through trade policy, political campaigning and public remarks." The statement also singled out Canadian nationals for allegedly voting illegally, claiming Canada ranks second among all countries in the number of citizens facing fraudulent or illegal voting charges.
"All Canadians should refrain from attempting to participate in or influence U.S. elections in any way. Americans decide America's elections," the embassy stated. The remarks came against a backdrop of heightened U.S.-Canada tensions over tariffs and trade policy.
Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly pushed back on October 14, saying Canada is "absolutely not" interfering in U.S. midterm elections. "We never do that and we never accept that also being done to us in Canada," Joly said, adding that her recent trips to the United States were aimed at attracting investment by American companies.
Dozens of non-citizens charged since late last year
Federal prosecutors have charged dozens of non-citizens — many of them longtime U.S. permanent residents — with illegally voting in federal elections since late last year. Several of those accused say they were unaware they were breaking the law, and some say they did not even know they were registered to vote.
David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, said illegal voting by non-citizens is consistently found to be highly uncommon. "This is likely an attempt to sow doubt about the elections in advance of an election in which the president and his administration might fear the voters might reject them," Becker said.
A Reuters investigation published in September found that software glitches and clerical errors across a dozen states could have added more than 30,000 self-declared non-citizens to voter rolls since 2000. Becker also noted that the DOJ's own election crimes manual cautions prosecutors against taking enforcement actions close to an election because of the potential to influence voters. "There's no reason these arrests couldn't have been made on Nov. 4 or some time after," he said.
Aaron Cohen, a Florida criminal defence lawyer representing several non-citizens facing voting-related charges, attributed part of the confusion to election officials failing to properly verify eligibility at the time of registration. "I feel strongly that it's a policy decision for whatever policy outcomes are that the current administration is seeking," Cohen said of the prosecutions.
Lawyers who spoke with CBC News said U.S. voter registration systems can sometimes inadvertently enroll non-citizens, and one attorney reported seeing an uptick in non-citizens being questioned last month.
Social media posts and jail conditions draw criticism
The DOJ's news release on Corbett's arrest included images of handcuffed individuals with their faces blurred. On Tuesday, the department posted a video on X featuring a montage of masked officers and a man in pyjamas being led down a hallway, advertising the arrests of 28 people in California for non-citizen voting — two of whom were Canadian nationals.
Corbett told North Carolina NBC affiliate WRAL that he spent a night in what he described as a crowded and dirty jail cell. He maintained he believed he held dual Canadian and American citizenship.
Two other Canadians caught in enforcement actions
Paige Adamson, a Canadian citizen who has lived in Point Roberts, Wash., as a U.S. permanent resident for 14 years, was stopped by U.S. border agents in September and questioned for several hours after returning from a birthday dinner in British Columbia. The Department of Homeland Security alleged she falsely claimed U.S. citizenship to vote in Washington state's 2018 general election and cited those allegations as grounds for her removal from the country. Adamson said she has no memory of ever having voted in the United States.
The consequences for those accused can be severe. The Trump administration has sought to deport non-citizens convicted of voting illegally. In June, Denis Bouchard, a North Carolina-based Canadian, was sentenced to two months in federal prison following a conviction on related charges.
Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)