A 64-year-old Hudson County woman has been charged in federal court with illegally voting in U.S. elections while she was not a citizen and with making false statements during the naturalization process, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
Prosecutors Say She Voted in Four Elections
Federal prosecutors identified the woman as Sanata Coulibaly, a Senegalese national who entered the United States on a B-1 visa and later became a lawful permanent resident.
According to the criminal complaint, Coulibaly registered to vote using a paper application at the Hudson County Superintendent of Elections and certified that she was a U.S. citizen.
Prosecutors allege that she then cast ballots in the November 2018 midterm election, July 2020 primary, November 2020 general election and 2024 general election. Each of those elections included candidates for federal office.
Because she was not a U.S. citizen at the time, federal authorities say she was not legally permitted to vote in those elections.
Naturalization Application Also Under Scrutiny
Federal prosecutors also allege that Coulibaly later applied for U.S. citizenship and falsely stated on her naturalization application that she had never registered to vote or voted in a federal election.
She has been charged with voting by an alien in a federal election and making false statements while applying for U.S. citizenship.
The voting charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison, while the false-statement charge can carry a maximum sentence of 10 years if she is convicted.
Coulibaly made her initial appearance in federal court in Newark on September 17.
The charges are allegations, and she is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Part of a Broader Federal Election Integrity Effort
The investigation involved the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The case was brought under the U.S. Attorney’s Office Election Integrity Task Force, which federal officials say is focused on investigating possible violations of election law in New Jersey.
Coulibaly’s case is not the only recent New Jersey prosecution involving alleged noncitizen voting. On September 24, federal prosecutors separately charged an Essex County man and a Middlesex County woman with illegally voting in federal elections and making false statements during the citizenship process.
Separate Issue: New Jersey’s MVC Registration Error
The criminal case comes as New Jersey is also dealing with a separate voter-registration problem involving the Motor Vehicle Commission.
In July, Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced that a software error between June 2023 and June 2024 improperly registered roughly 6,600 people who had indicated that they were not U.S. citizens. According to the governor, those individuals had answered “no” when asked whether they were citizens, but the software transmitted their information for voter registration anyway.
Sherrill said the mistake occurred under the previous administration and ordered an investigation and corrections to the voter rolls. The state later began removing more than 4,500 people who had been registered solely because of the software error.
The state’s preliminary review found that fewer than 400 of the roughly 6,600 people registered through the software error had voted, although officials have stressed that the circumstances surrounding those registrations were different from cases in which prosecutors allege someone knowingly falsely claimed U.S. citizenship.
That distinction is important: the MVC problem involved people who told the state they were not citizens but were nevertheless registered because of a software failure, while the Coulibaly complaint alleges that she personally certified that she was a U.S. citizen when registering.
Federal prosecutors will now have to prove the allegations against Coulibaly in court.
Sources: U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey; U.S. Department of Justice; Office of Gov. Mikie Sherrill; New Jersey Division of Elections.
By NJ RADAR Team