Non-citizens cannot vote in U.S. elections for President, Vice President, Congress, or any other federal office, and doing so is a federal crime that also triggers deportation and, in most cases, a permanent bar to ever becoming a citizen. A small number of cities and the District of Columbia let non-citizen residents vote in certain local races like school board or city council, but those exceptions are narrow and do not extend to state or federal contests. The question of whether non-citizens can vote in US elections has one safe answer for almost everyone reading this: no, and the consequences of getting it wrong are severe enough that even accidental registration needs legal attention.
The Federal Rule
Under 18 U.S.C. § 611, no non-citizen may vote in any election held even in part to choose a federal officeholder, which covers presidential races, U.S. Senate and House contests, and elections for delegates or resident commissioners.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 611 – Voting by Aliens The ban applies regardless of immigration status. A lawful permanent resident who has held a green card for decades is in the same position as someone on a student visa or someone without any legal status.
The statute contains one structural carve-out. If a local election shares a ballot with a federal race, a non-citizen may vote on the local portion, but only if state or local law authorizes non-citizen voting and the ballot is designed so that the person cannot access any federal contest.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 611 – Voting by Aliens In practice, jurisdictions that allow non-citizen local voting use separate ballots or separate election days.
Local Elections That Allow Non-Citizen Voting
A handful of jurisdictions permit non-citizen residents to vote in local races. The District of Columbia began allowing it in 2023, though Congress has introduced legislation to repeal that law.2Congress.gov. HR 884 – 119th Congress Several Maryland towns extend local voting rights to non-citizens through their charters, a couple of Vermont municipalities do the same, and San Francisco allows non-citizen parents of children in the school district to vote in school board elections.
These permissions never reach state races and never touch federal contests. A non-citizen eligible to vote for a town council member in a Maryland municipality has no right to vote for governor, state legislators, or anyone running for Congress. Before casting any ballot, confirm with the local election office exactly which contests you are eligible to vote on, because the wrong ballot can carry the same consequences as knowingly voting illegally.
The room for more jurisdictions to adopt non-citizen voting is also shrinking. At least 18 states have amended their constitutions to restrict voting to U.S. citizens. In 2024, voters in Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin approved such measures, and Texas followed in 2025. In those states, cities cannot open local voting to non-citizens even if they wanted to.
Criminal Penalties
Two federal statutes come into play, and they punish different acts.
The first, 18 U.S.C. § 611, makes it a crime for a non-citizen to vote in a federal election. The maximum sentence is one year in prison, a fine, or both.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 611 – Voting by Aliens
The second is harsher and reaches further. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1015(f), knowingly making a false claim of U.S. citizenship to register or to vote carries up to five years in prison.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1015 – Naturalization, Citizenship or Alien Registry Every voter registration form requires applicants to affirm they are U.S. citizens, so checking that box can be treated as a false citizenship claim even if the person never actually casts a ballot.
State-level penalties sit on top of federal charges. Some states treat illegal registration as a misdemeanor with modest fines; others make it a felony with penalties reaching tens of thousands of dollars.
Immigration Consequences
For most non-citizens, the immigration fallout matters more than the criminal exposure. It can shut down any future in the United States.
Deportation
Under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(6), any non-citizen who has voted in violation of any federal, state, or local law is deportable.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens Immigration authorities can begin removal proceedings without a criminal conviction, and the statute does not require proof that the person knew voting was illegal.
Inadmissibility
A separate provision, 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(10)(D), makes any non-citizen who voted unlawfully inadmissible.5Congressional Research Service. Immigration Consequences of Unlawful Voting by Aliens Inadmissibility means the person cannot re-enter the country, cannot adjust status to become a permanent resident, and cannot obtain most immigration benefits. A green card holder who travels abroad after voting unlawfully may find themselves unable to return.
The False Claim to Citizenship Bar
This is the irreversible one. Checking the citizenship box on a voter registration form can trigger a separate inadmissibility ground reserved for false claims of U.S. citizenship. According to USCIS policy, this ground does not require the false claim to have been made intentionally or knowingly, and someone who genuinely believed they were a citizen when they filled out the form can still be found inadmissible. No waiver is available, so an immigration judge has no discretion to forgive it.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 8 – Part K – Chapter 2 – Determining False Claim to US Citizenship
The result: a non-citizen who registered thinking they were allowed to can be permanently barred from citizenship, blocked from getting a green card, and denied re-entry if they leave the country.
The One Narrow Defense
Federal law recognizes a personal defense, but it fits almost no one. A non-citizen who votes in a federal election avoids criminal liability if all three of these are true: both parents are or were U.S. citizens, the person lived permanently in the United States before turning 16, and the person actually believed at the time of voting that they were a citizen.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 611 – Voting by Aliens The same three-part test shields a qualifying person from deportation.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens
A lawful permanent resident whose parents were never U.S. citizens has no defense under this provision, even if they sincerely misunderstood their eligibility. The defense was designed for people who grew up in the United States assuming they were citizens because their parents were, not for anyone else.
When Non-Citizens Get Registered by Mistake
Accidental registrations happen, and they are often the government’s fault. Under the National Voter Registration Act, every state motor vehicle office must offer voter registration during driver’s license transactions.7Department of Justice. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) The registration paperwork is supposed to include a citizenship attestation and a warning about penalties, but the process sometimes breaks down, and non-citizens have been registered even after marking themselves as ineligible.
The danger is that an accidental registration the person never requested still creates a paper trail showing an apparent claim of citizenship. If that registration surfaces later, during a jury duty summons, a naturalization interview, or a database audit, it can trigger deportation proceedings and the permanent inadmissibility bar.
What to Do If You Were Registered or Voted
If you are a non-citizen and discover you have been registered to vote, talk to an immigration attorney before you contact the election office. Asking to be removed from the rolls seems like the right move, but any statement you make to election officials can become evidence in an immigration or criminal case. An attorney can evaluate your exposure under the false-claim-to-citizenship ground and advise on the safest way to correct the record.
If you actually voted, the stakes are higher and the same rule applies. A lawyer can assess whether you qualify for the narrow parental-citizenship defense and plan how to handle the issue before it surfaces during a naturalization application, a green card renewal, or re-entry after travel abroad.
Do not let it sit. Voter rolls are cross-checked against the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE system and against jury qualification records that ask about citizenship. The longer an unlawful or mistaken registration stays uncorrected, the harder it becomes to argue the registration was an innocent error.
What May Change
The SAVE Act, which passed the U.S. House in April 2025, would require all voter registration applicants to present documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport, a REAL ID-compliant license indicating citizenship, or a birth certificate paired with a government-issued photo ID.8Congress.gov. HR 22 – 119th Congress – SAVE Act It has not been signed into law. If enacted, it would replace much of the current honor-system approach to citizenship on the federal registration form and would likely reduce the accidental registrations that create so many problems for non-citizens today.