Kentucky findings add to growing concerns over noncitizen voting

​ A Kentucky lawmaker found that at least 159 noncitizens have voted in the state and said the U.S. Justice Department may bring prosecutions. The findings come as President Donald Trump has raised concerns about the number of noncitizens on state voter rolls.

State Rep. John Hodgson, vice chairman of the House Committee on Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs, wants to see state and federal prosecutors act more swiftly to prosecute illegal voting by noncitizens.

“My bottom line issue is that if even one noncitizen cast a vote in Kentucky, they need to be prosecuted,” Hodgson told the Daily Signal. “We have had elections won and lost by a single vote in the Kentucky House, and many by less than 10 votes.”

Noncitizen voting is a Class D felony in Kentucky and, if attempted in federal elections, is a federal crime under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

According to the Kentucky State Board of Elections’ statistics, the state has removed 379 noncitizens from its voter rolls since October 2024, including those with voting histories.

Kentucky has about 3.35 million registered voters statewide, but some legislative races have been decided by only several votes. In 2018, a state House race was decided by just one vote, while two other state House races were decided by five and six votes, respectively. A 2024 state House race was decided by just 30 votes.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security released estimates that four states—California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania—had 256,463 noncitizens on the voter rolls. For its part, New Jersey admitted to finding 6,600 noncitizens on its voter rolls, significantly fewer than the federal estimate of 35,000. Of the 6,600 noncitizens, the state said that fewer than 400 voted.

Separately, the 25 states that are participating in the Department of Homeland Security Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, used to cross-check voter registration data, identified at least 28,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls so far, according to DHS.

In 2024, Hodgson sponsored House Bill 44 to uncover the names of noncitizens registered to vote. The bill, which became law that year, requires the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts to provide the Kentucky Board of Elections with a monthly report of all jury pool members who self-reported being noncitizens and were therefore removed from the jury pool.

“Statistically, maybe 1 in 10 get a jury call every year, so these are just the ones we randomly caught,” Hodgson said. He said the number of noncitizens registered to vote could be as many as 10 times greater.

Hodgson took the findings in March to Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, the state’s top prosecutor, as well as Secretary of State Michael Adams, who oversees state elections. In April, he also sent the findings to the office of U.S. Attorney Kyle Bumgarner of the Western District of Kentucky.

“I have provided the information to the secretary of state and the attorney general. The secretary of state doesn’t have enforcement power, the attorney general does. I also provided it to the U.S. attorney,” he said. “To the best of my knowledge, there has been no enforcement action.”

However, last week, Hodgson said he spoke with an attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division who appeared interested in bringing a case. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon has led lawsuits against multiple states, including Kentucky, to obtain voter registration data. Last week, a federal district court dismissed the Justice Department’s case against Kentucky, but the department is appealing to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Hodgson made a public records request to the state’s elections board to find out how many noncitizens voted in the last five years. The board provided a spreadsheet with data on each, with the number of 159 noncitizens who voted.

He said the attorney general’s office was working with the U.S. attorney’s office to determine if the self-reported noncitizens were actually noncitizens, made a mistake in their self-identification, or possibly were trying to dodge jury duty.

“Some number were noncitizens and of that some number voted,” Hodgson said.

The Daily Signal contacted Coleman’s and Adams’ offices for this story. Neither responded by publication time.

The Daily Signal also reached out to the Justice Department and the office of the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Kentucky about a federal case, but neither responded by publication time.