Michigan's attorney general has charged five noncitizens and one U.S. citizen with election crimes tied to the 2024 presidential election, and House Speaker Mike Johnson says Democrats bear responsibility for the vulnerabilities that made it possible.
Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges after a state review of 38 suspected cases of noncitizen voting or related conduct stretching back to 2009. Six of those cases produced criminal charges. Ten were closed without charges. Twenty-two remain under active review. The cases emerged from a state where more than 5.7 million ballots were cast in the November 2024 general election, Fox News Digital reported.
Johnson seized on the Michigan charges in a post on X, tying them to a broader pattern he says stretches across multiple states.
The House Speaker framed the Michigan charges as the latest proof that the country's election systems remain exposed to illegal participation by noncitizens. He pointed to problems in New Jersey alongside the Michigan cases.
Johnson has pushed legislative measures aimed at tightening voter eligibility, and his post made clear he sees the Michigan charges as vindication of that effort.
"From New Jersey to Michigan, the evidence continues to mount: Illegal aliens are registering and VOTING in American elections."
He went further, accusing Democrats of deliberate obstruction on the issue.
"Democrats know this, which is why they want OPEN BORDERS and OPPOSE voter ID."
Johnson called noncitizen voting a "clear and present danger" to election integrity and added that "all Americans DESERVE secure elections, and Republicans are the ones fighting to make it happen."
The defendants span a range of ages, immigration statuses, and locations across Michigan, and one lives overseas. Each allegedly participated in the 2024 election despite lacking the legal right to vote.
Robert Piva, 67, a permanent resident from Roseville, faces charges of election law perjury, attempting to vote while unqualified, and fraudulent registration. He allegedly voted early in October 2024. His explanation: he called his vote an "experiment" concerning voter fraud.
Michael Akioya, 39, a permanent resident from Oak Park, was charged with allegedly making false statements on an absentee voter application and ballot envelope during the 2024 election.
Alondra Harker, 26, a limited-term alien resident from Three Rivers, faces a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent registration, punishable by up to 90 days in jail, for allegedly registering and voting in person in 2024. Harumi Michael, 60, a permanent resident from Wolverine Lake, faces the most serious slate of charges: two felony counts of election forgery, one felony count of attempting to vote while unqualified, and one misdemeanor, for allegedly registering and voting in Commerce Township.
Then there is Basanth Sadasivian. He is 29, lives in the United Kingdom, and was charged with a felony for attempting to vote while unqualified, a charge carrying up to four years in prison. He allegedly registered and voted in 2024 through the Federal Post Card Application system, a process designed for overseas U.S. citizens, using a Bloomfield Hills address.
The sixth defendant, Kimberley DiDonato, 60, is a U.S. citizen from Rose Township. She was charged with election forgery and computer crime after allegedly posing as her noncitizen husband to register him to vote online. DiDonato claimed she wanted to test the system's vulnerabilities before asking to cancel the registration. The charges against her raise a separate question: how easily can someone register another person without that person's knowledge or consent?
Democrats in Congress have repeatedly opposed voter ID requirements attached to legislation, arguing such provisions are unnecessary or discriminatory. The Michigan cases suggest the systems those provisions would strengthen are not as airtight as opponents of voter ID have claimed.
Nessel, a Democrat, framed the charges as evidence that her office takes election crimes seriously regardless of how often they occur. She acknowledged the cases represent a small fraction of the millions of votes cast.
"We're upholding election integrity by investigating all claims of noncitizen voters, as rare as they are, and holding bad actors accountable when they refuse to abide by the laws that keep our elections safe and secure."
But Nessel also conceded that the investigations were slowed by federal bureaucracy. She said the federal government had not always provided "easy or open access to certain necessary citizenship records," forcing her investigators to spend "considerable time and effort coaxing cooperation from the federal agencies."
That admission cuts in a direction Nessel may not have intended. If a state attorney general's office, with subpoena power and law enforcement resources, struggled to verify citizenship status, what chance do local clerks have when a noncitizen walks up to register?
Nessel also noted that some cases proved more complicated than they appeared on the surface. Four individuals originally referred for potential charges were ultimately cleared: two turned out to be U.S. citizens, one gained citizenship through international adoption, and one was a federally recognized American Indian born in Canada. Six additional cases were closed without charges due to a lack of evidence of criminal intent or potential registration errors.
President Trump signed executive orders in March 2025 and March 2026 designed to address the exact problem Nessel described. The first order strengthened citizenship verification requirements for federal elections. The second directed federal agencies to give states greater access to citizenship and immigration data, the kind of records Nessel's office had trouble obtaining.
The administration has also backed legislation that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, a measure that has faced procedural hurdles even within Republican ranks. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted the administration's commitment to investigating and preventing illegal immigrants from voting, and referenced a letter from the Secretary of Homeland Security requesting that states including New Jersey remove noncitizens from their voter rolls.
Johnson and the broader Republican conference face a compressed legislative calendar heading into midterm season. Whether Congress can turn executive action into durable statutory reform remains an open question, but cases like Michigan's give the effort fresh urgency.
The six charged defendants represent only part of the picture. Twenty-two of the 38 suspected cases remain under active review by Nessel's office. Whether additional charges follow is unclear.
Nessel herself acknowledged the complexity involved. "While the question of whether any given resident is a citizen may feel simple," she said, "some cases are nuanced in unexpected ways." That may be true. But the complexity of verifying citizenship is an argument for stronger safeguards, not weaker ones.
Johnson's framing, that Democrats oppose the very tools needed to prevent illegal voting, is not contradicted by anything in the Michigan case. Nessel's own office struggled with federal data access. A noncitizen living in the United Kingdom allegedly voted using a Michigan address. A U.S. citizen allegedly registered her noncitizen husband with a few clicks online. And all of it happened in a battleground state that decided a presidential election.
When the systems are this porous, calling the problem "rare" is not the reassurance some officials seem to think it is.
