Canadian pleads guilty to false claims of U.S. citizenship to vote in elections

A Canadian man has pleaded guilty to two counts of making false claims certifying that he was a U.S. citizen on North Carolina voter registration applications in 2022 and 2024 to vote in elections in those years, including in the 2024 presidential election, the Department of Justice has said.

According to court documents cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina in a press release , the 70-year-old man, Denis Bouchard, falsely claimed to be a United States citizen in order to vote. It added that he had lived in the U.S. since the 1960s but never obtained American citizenship.

“This shows that our elections remain under attack from aliens,” said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle, who was sworn into the position last August . “We will not tolerate noncitizens lying to illegally vote here in North Carolina. Every eligible citizen should have confidence that an alien voting illegally will get sniffed out and prosecuted.”

Boyle added: “As seen as recently as Tuesday, every single vote counts because the difference between winning and losing can come down to two votes.” He was referring to a contest for sheriff in Rockingham County in the northern part of the state in which incumbent Sheriff Sam Page had led challenger Phil Berger by just two votes, although that margin later widened .

“This case is a testament to the FBI’s commitment to working with our partners in North Carolina to arrest and prosecute anyone who illegally participates in our democratic process,” said Reid Davis, the FBI Special Agent in Charge in North Carolina. He added: “The FBI will fully investigate any individual who attempts to subvert our upcoming 2026 elections.”

The man has not yet been sentenced, but faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment on each count.

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