You don’t leave your front door unlocked and then act surprised when someone walks in. But that’s essentially what one quiet suburb just outside Washington, D.C., did – and the consequences should unsettle every American who still believes their vote carries weight.

Cheverly, Maryland, is a small town – population under 7,000 – the kind of place most people drive through on their way somewhere else. In 2020, its leaders amended the town charter to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. It was pitched as an inclusive gesture, a way to give long-term residents a voice in neighborhood matters. You know the type – progressive feel-good policy that sounds harmless on paper.

But someone decided to look closer. The American Center for Law & Justice, a conservative legal nonprofit, filed a Freedom of Information Act request and obtained Cheverly’s “Non-citizen” Voter Registry – a list of 98 individuals who had formally identified themselves as noncitizens. Then ACLJ cross-referenced those names and addresses against publicly available federal voter records.

One in four

What they found should stop you cold. At least 25% of those 98 noncitizens voted in federal or statewide elections between 2020 and 2024. Not local races – federal elections, the ones where only United States citizens are legally permitted to cast a ballot. Let that number sit with you for a moment.

And here’s the detail that demolishes any “innocent mix-up” defense: Cheverly held no local elections on the same day as any federal election during that period. There was no overlapping ballot, no confusing two-in-one scenario. These individuals cast ballots on days when only federal and state races were on the line.

I’ll let the ACLJ’s chief counsel say it plainly:

From Just the News, quoting ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow:

“The astonishing number of individuals on the ‘Non-citizen’ Voter Registry showing up in public federal voter records is direct evidence of voter fraud, gross incompetence on behalf of the election officials maintaining the voter lists, or both. Every time a noncitizen or other ineligible voter casts a ballot, it effectively cancels out the vote of a lawful voter.”

The ACLJ has referred the matter to the Justice Department.

No room for excuses

Now, some in the mainstream press have been quick to frame noncitizen voting cases as “honest mistakes” – confused immigrants led astray by clumsy bureaucracies. The Washington Post recently profiled cases where noncitizens were essentially handed registration forms by well-meaning officials. And sure, that happens. But at what point does a pattern stop being a mistake? A 25% rate from a single town isn’t a clerical hiccup. It’s a flashing red light.

What one small town tells us

This story broke days before the November 3 midterms, and honestly, I think the timing matters less than the math. If one tiny town that openly maintains a noncitizen voter list reveals this kind of contamination in federal elections, what are we not seeing in places that don’t keep such tidy records? I’d love for someone to answer that.

I’m not interested in demonizing immigrants. I’m interested in what citizenship means – what it’s supposed to mean. Either the right to vote belongs exclusively to American citizens, or it doesn’t. Either your ballot counts fully, or it gets quietly diluted by people who were never authorized to cast one.

Cheverly left the door unlocked. Now we know exactly who walked through it.

Key Takeaways

• 25% of noncitizens in a Maryland town voted illegally in federal elections.
• No local elections overlapped with federal ones, eliminating the “honest mistake” defense.
• The ACLJ has referred the case to the Justice Department for investigation.
• If one small town reveals this pattern, the national picture may be far worse.

Sources: Just The News, The Washington Post