Florida
Non-Citizen Charged with Voting Unlawfully in Seven Florida Elections, AG Uthmeier Announces
A shared federal database has provided evidence to charge a Canadian citizen with voting illegally in Florida seven times, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced, chastising a federal judge who has shut down that same database for most of the…
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Key points
- A 66-year-old Canadian citizen in Florida faces felony charges for allegedly voting in seven elections between 2004 and 2024.
- State investigators used federal immigration databases to verify the suspect’s legal status after he registered under false citizenship claims.
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier pledged to continue using federal screening tools to defend ballot integrity despite judicial challenges.
State Authorities Charge Canadian Resident in Multi-Year Election Fraud Case
NewsWK — A Canadian citizen residing in Florida faces up to a decade in prison after state officials uncovered evidence that he voted unlawfully in seven Florida elections over a 20-year period, Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Thursday.
According to a report first published by Florida Phoenix, 66-year-old Melbourne resident Giorgio Dominique Mucelli was charged with one count of voting by a non-citizen elector and one count of false affirmation. Both charges are third-degree felonies carrying a maximum combined sentence of 10 years in state prison. Mucelli is a U.S. lawful permanent resident but does not hold American citizenship.
Two Decades of Alleged Unlawful Balloting
An investigation conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement‘s Election Crime Unit and state prosecutors revealed that Mucelli originally registered to vote in Broward County in April 2004, falsely asserting under oath that he was a U.S. citizen. Records indicate he subsequently cast illegal ballots in the 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2020, 2022, and 2024 elections.
State officials stated that when investigators confronted Mucelli, he initially denied the allegations before acknowledging he knew non-citizens are prohibited from voting in American elections.
Federal Database Access Protects Ballot Integrity
Investigators verified Mucelli’s non-citizen status through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system. Florida secured access to the SAVE database to perform voter roll citizenship checks following federal action allowing states to cross-reference voter registrations against immigration records.
The enforcement action comes amidst an ongoing legal fight regarding state access to federal immigration records. A Washington, D.C. federal judge attempted to halt nationwide access to the database earlier this summer. However, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II—presiding in Florida’s Northern District, which includes Escambia and Santa Rosa counties—ordered federal authorities to restore access to Florida and three other states.
Uthmeier criticized federal judicial interference with state verification efforts, reaffirming Florida’s commitment to protecting the vote for lawful residents. “Her activist ruling makes it harder to verify citizenship and slows our ability to hold aliens accountable for stealing votes in Florida elections,” Uthmeier stated during a video announcement, adding that state attorneys “will not back down” in court “to protect the integrity of every American ballot.”
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team.
Based on reporting by Mitch Perry originally published by Florida Phoenix. Read the original story.
