Three Aliens Charged with Voting in Federal Elections
ATLANTA / Friday, September 18, 2026 – Three aliens from Mexico, Venezuela, and Antigua and Barbuda face federal charges for allegedly voting illegally in recent federal elections.
“Voting in federal elections is a sacred right reserved to U.S. citizens, and every vote illegally cast by an alien cancels out a legal vote,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “Maintaining the integrity of our elections and protecting the voting rights of citizens are among the highest priorities of my office. We will work with federal law enforcement and our state partners to vigorously safeguard those rights through the prosecutions brought to date and more that may soon follow.”
“Protecting the integrity of U.S. elections requires enforcing the laws that govern who may lawfully participate,” said Ryan McSeveney, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service Miami Field Office, which oversees the Southeastern United States. “DSS is committed to working closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of unlawful voting and related document and identity fraud.”
“When a foreign national votes in U.S. elections, it violates federal law and undermines public trust in our election system,” said Ellen Johnson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI in Georgia and Alabama. “HSI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate illegal voting and protect the integrity of America’s immigration and election systems.”
According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: Since September 1, 2026, three foreign nationals have been charged with voting in federal elections in the Northern District of Georgia.
Pauline Lewis, 65, an alien residing in Dawsonville, Georgia, is alleged to have voted by absentee ballot in the November 5, 2024, January 5, 2021, and November 3, 2020 federal elections. Lewis is allegedly a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda who entered the United States on a student visa in 1979 and remained in the country but never applied to become a U.S. citizen. Today, she appeared in federal court following her arrest on a criminal complaint charging her with voting as a non-citizen in a federal election.
Gabriel Covarrubias, 44, an alien residing in Lawrenceville, Georgia, is alleged to have voted in person using a false name in the November 5, 2024 federal election. Covarrubias is allegedly a citizen of Mexico who falsely claimed in a U.S. passport application submitted in March 2023 that he had a different name and was born in Puerto Rico. On September 1, 2026, he waived indictment and was charged by criminal information with making a false statement in a U.S. passport application and voting as a non-citizen in a federal election.
Analiea Milliscent Eccles, 43, an alien residing in Morrow, Georgia, is alleged to have voted nine times between 2008 and 2024. Eccles is allegedly a citizen of Venezuela who entered the United States on a temporary visitor visa in 1991 and remained in the country, applying for and receiving Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status in 2013. Although she allegedly sought to renew that status earlier this year, she has never applied to become a U.S. citizen. On September 14, 2026, she appeared in federal court following her arrest on a criminal complaint charging her with voting as a non-citizen in a federal election and making a false claim of U.S. citizenship to vote in an election.
Members of the public are reminded that the complaints and information only contain charges. The defendants are presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendants’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
The cases are being investigated by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with valuable assistance from the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State.
These prosecutions are part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. The Atlanta Wilhelm HSTF comprises agents and officers from ATF, CGIS, DEA, FBI, ICE-HSI, IRS-CI, DOL-OIG, DSS, USMS, USPIS, and USSS, as well as numerous state and local agencies, with the prosecution being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6185. The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Georgia
