Kansas AG Kris Kobach charged Coldwater Mayor Jose Ceballos, a non-citizen, with six felonies for illegally voting in several elections as well as committing election perjury. Notably, the arrest came just days after voters re-elected him.
Reacting to this situation, Kobach declared noncitizen voting “a very real problem” that “cancels out” citizens’ votes. Offering more context, federal officials credited the Trump-era expansion of the SAVE verification program for exposing the case, calling lax security “unacceptable.”
Starting off his comments, the Kansas Attorney General explained the deep flaws in our electoral system. “In large part, our system right now is based on trust. Trust that when the person signed the registration or signs the pollbooks saying that he’s a qualified elector or that he is a United States citizen, that the person is telling the truth… In this case, we allege that Mr. Ceballos violated that trust,” he noted.
In an additional press release, Kobach explained the seriousness of the situation, saying, “Voting by noncitizens, including both legal and illegal aliens, is a very real problem. It happens. Every time a noncitizen votes, it effectively cancels out a U.S. citizen’s vote.”
Speaking to the media, the courageous official kept up his attack. “In Kansas, it is against the law to vote if you are not a U.S. citizen. We allege that Mr. Ceballos did it multiple times. Noncitizen voting is a real problem. It is not something that happens once in a decade. It is something that happens fairly frequently,” Kobach declared. Concluding his comments, he noted, “If a person who is not a U.S. citizen actually ends up on the ballot for an office, then a U.S. citizen lost the opportunity to obtain that office, so it’s the same point.”
Offering another view, Skip Herd, the Coldwater City Attorney, summarized the facts of the case. The official explained, “He’s been a registered voter since 1990. He applied for citizenship in February of this year, and through that, raised the issue of whether he was a legal citizen.”
Concuring, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab described how the mayor was detected. “We now have tools, thanks to the current White House, that we haven’t had in over 10 years that we can check through the SAVE program, to find out if folks end up on our voter rolls. And they could be a legal resident, but they’re not a citizen,” Schwab said.
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Wrapping up the official reaction to this scandal, Schwab thanked President Trump for his help in bringing the alleged criminal to justice. He noted, “I’ve worked with Attorney General Kobach for years on proof of citizenship as a useful tool to root out election crimes. During my time as House Elections Chair, then Secretary Kobach and I fought to pass a proof of citizenship requirement. Instead, we’re left relying on individuals’ word when it comes to verifying citizenship… I’m grateful that President Trump implemented the SAVE program to help states and to prevent situations like this.”
Watch another blue city mayor admit to being an illegal here: