TRENTON, New Jersey (GG)— A French citizen residing in New Jersey faces a maximum penalty of six months in federal prison and a $100,000 fine after formally pleading guilty to illegally casting a ballot in a United States federal election.
The legal proceedings took place before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Brandon Day in a Trenton federal court, where 39-year-old Eliezer Kadoch of Toms River admitted to a misdemeanor charge of voting by an alien in a federal election. According to documentation submitted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Kadoch remains a citizen of France and has never acquired United States citizenship, rendering him legally ineligible to participate in American elections.
Court records indicate that the unlawful ballot was cast during the November 8, 2022 midterm general elections. Because that specific cycle included a contested race for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, the matter fell directly under federal voting statutes, which strictly prohibit non-citizens from casting ballots for federal officeholders.
Following the entry of the guilty plea, Kadoch’s defense team clarified that the French national did not act with deliberate criminal intent to violate federal laws. Defense attorney Yosef Jacobovitch stated that his client mistakenly believed he was legally authorized to vote after being automatically registered to the voter rolls upon receiving his New Jersey driver’s license. Under the current legal framework, the specific misdemeanor offense does not require federal prosecutors to prove willful criminal intent to secure a conviction.
The admission of guilt has re-ignited an intense political and legislative debate across the state and country regarding the structure of voter eligibility protocols and the long-term accuracy of local voter registration records. Conservative policy organizations, including the America First Policy Institute, highlighted the case to argue that local motor vehicle policies combining non-citizen driver’s license access with automated registration can inadvertently contaminate voter rolls. Legal reformers have continuously pointed to these gaps to advocate for stricter proof-of-citizenship laws at polling sites.
Federal prosecutors emphasized that preserving public confidence in the electoral system requires a strict enforcement of citizen-only voting requirements. The Department of Justice has widened its scrutiny into irregular voter participation, with regional authorities recently publicizing separate charges against multiple non-citizens for participating in the 2020, 2022, and 2024 voting cycles across various districts.
The court has officially scheduled Kadoch’s sentencing hearing for October 26. Under federal guidelines, the magistrate judge retains judicial discretion to impose any combination of probation, the maximum six-month incarceration term, and financial penalties up to the statutory cap.
