He Swore He Was a U.S. Citizen on His Minnesota Voter Certificate. He Wasn’t.
A federal grand jury in Minnesota has indicted a man for allegedly lying about his citizenship so he could vote in the 2024 presidential election.
Mukeshkumar Somabhai Chaudhari, an Indian national, now faces two felony counts tied to that claim.
Today, the @CivilRights Division’s Criminal Section obtained a two-count indictment charging a foreign national with falsely representing that he was a U.S. citizen in order to vote in the Nov. 2024 election. The defendant faces up to 10 years in prison. https://t.co/3gqDe93wzX
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) September 10, 2026
What the Indictment Says
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Chaudhari signed a voter signature certificate on or about November 5, 2024, the day of the general election.
Minnesota law requires that certificate to include a sworn statement that the voter is a U.S. citizen. Prosecutors allege Chaudhari was not a citizen and knew it when he signed.
He’s charged with one count of false information in voting and one count of making a false claim of citizenship to register or vote.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal judge will decide any sentence if he’s convicted, weighing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with other factors.
Who’s Involved
Homeland Security Investigations led the probe, with help from the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office.
Trial attorneys Flavio Abreu and William Rubens, from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, are prosecuting.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who heads the Civil Rights Division, framed the case as part of a broader push to protect election integrity.
She said the right to vote is a sacred privilege of American citizenship, and that the department will hold accountable anyone who knowingly lies about citizenship to vote, because the integrity of elections depends on only eligible citizens casting ballots.
What Critics Say
Voting rights groups say cases like this are rare and get overblown. Out of millions of ballots, one or two fraudulent ones are basically a drop in the bucket.
But that’s not the point. The point is that even one is one too many, and every case that gets caught raises an obvious question: how many don’t?
If a signed certificate is often the only thing standing between “I’m not eligible” and a counted ballot, that’s not exactly a high bar.
The question isn’t confusing. It’s a plain, sworn statement: are you a U.S. citizen, yes or no.
Signing it incorrectly is a choice. A choice like that deserve consequences, no matter how small the pile of cases looks.
And a reminder, an indictment is just an allegation. Chaudhari is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
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