Voter Fraud and Election Crimes Defense Lawyer in California

The charges

What gets filed as voter fraud

In October 2026, federal prosecutors in all four California districts charged 28 lawful permanent residents by criminal complaint with registering to vote or voting as noncitizens; 13 of the cases are in the Central District of California, which covers Long Beach and Downey. The charges in those cases are the ones this page is about. In the Central District, every defendant faces false statements in a naturalization application under 18 U.S.C. 1015(a), and some also face fraudulent voter registration under 52 U.S.C. 20511(2); both are felonies with a five-year maximum. Other districts charged false claims of citizenship to vote under 18 U.S.C. 1015(f), also five years, attempted procurement of naturalization under 18 U.S.C. 1425, ten years for a first or second offense, and the misdemeanor of voting by a noncitizen under 18 U.S.C. 611, one year.

The pattern the complaints describe is the same in nearly every case: a voter registration form that claimed U.S. citizenship, some of them filed as far back as 2002, then a naturalization application years later that answered no to whether the person had ever claimed citizenship, registered, or voted. Many of these cases were made by the naturalization application, not by a ballot. A maximum is a ceiling set by Congress, not a prediction; what a sentence looks like depends on the facts, the federal sentencing guidelines, and the person’s history.

Sources: 18 U.S.C. 1015(a) and (f) — false statements in naturalization matters; false claim of citizenship to register or vote; 52 U.S.C. 20511(2) — fraudulent registration or voting in a federal election; 18 U.S.C. 611 — voting by a noncitizen in a federal election; 18 U.S.C. 1425 — unlawful procurement of naturalization; 18 U.S.C. 911 — false claim of citizenship.

What must be proved

Knowledge and intent decide these cases

Nearly every one of these statutes turns on what the person knew. Section 1015 requires a knowing false statement, section 20511 a knowing and willful one, Elections Code 18100 registration with knowledge of ineligibility, and Elections Code 18560 a fraudulent vote. The government’s theory is that each person knew they were not a citizen and signed anyway. The record of how the registration happened is where that theory is tested.

Since 2018, California has registered eligible people automatically through DMV transactions unless they opt out, and within months of the launch the DMV acknowledged that about 1,500 people, including lawful residents who were not citizens, had been registered in error because its own staff changed eligibility answers on applications. Older registrations came from paper forms at DMV counters, voter drives at stores, campuses, and churches, and county forms, where a volunteer or clerk often filled in the form and the person signed it, and where the citizenship box could be pre-filled, misread, or badly translated. Who filled in the form, in what language, and what the agency’s own records show are the first facts a defense goes to find.

Two federal sections, 611 and 1015(f), also carry a narrow exception for a person whose natural or adoptive parents were citizens, who lived permanently in the United States before turning 16, and who reasonably believed they were a citizen. It is rare, and it does not apply to the naturalization-application charge, but for someone who grew up here in a citizen family it is the first question to ask.

Sources: 18 U.S.C. 611(c) — the exception for a person whose parents were citizens, who lived here before 16, and who reasonably believed they were a citizen; 18 U.S.C. 1015(f) — the same exception for the false-claim-to-vote offense.

The investigation

Letters, calls, and visits from HSI

Contact from Homeland Security Investigations usually takes one of four forms: a letter asking you to come in for an interview, a phone call, agents at home or at work asking to talk, or an arrest on a warrant. Each one means the investigation is already under way, and the interview is where cases are made. A false or incomplete statement to a federal agent is its own crime under 18 U.S.C. 1001, even where the underlying conduct turns out not to be.

• Say that you want a lawyer, then stop talking. That sentence ends the questioning and cannot be used against you; explaining or “clearing things up” can.
• Do not sign anything, and do not consent to a search of your phone, home, or car. With a warrant, agents will search; you need not help and must not obstruct.
• Do not cancel or “fix” the registration, and do not call the county registrar. After federal contact, a change to the record reads as consciousness of guilt and is itself a new record.
• Do not file anything with USCIS. If a naturalization application is pending, tell the lawyer first.
• Keep every document: the letter, any form you were handed, DMV paperwork, the naturalization file, and the ballots and voter mail received over the years.
• Family members: find out where the person is held, and let the first call be to a lawyer, not to the number on the agent’s card.

Sources: 18 U.S.C. 1001 — false statements to a federal agent, a separate offense.

The office

How the Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre handles election cases

The office defends federal cases in the Central District of California, the district that covers Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties, and state cases in the Los Angeles County courts, from offices in Long Beach and Downey. Calls are answered day and night, in English and Spanish. Nothing on this page predicts an outcome.