FDLE: Florida Non-Citizen Voted Illegally 6 Times

"I Voted" sticker. Credit: Wikicommons

MIAMI – The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) arrested James Ross Wightman, 65, a British National, on six counts of voting illegally. Wightman is an illegal alien from the United Kingdom.

Wightman was voluntarily deported from the United States in 1989 due to a drug offense arrest in Hawaii. He overstayed his Visitor Visa and was afforded voluntary deportation in Sept. 1989 in lieu of a formal deportation proceeding.

James Ross Wightman. Credit: FDLE

FDLE investigators say Wightman returned to the United States, where he falsely affirmed being a U.S. citizen on a voter registration application he submitted in Nov. 2000. In Nov. 2013, Wightman presented a fictitious Ohio birth certificate to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for the purposes of renewing his Florida Driver’s License. The Ohio Department of Health has confirmed that no birth certificates exist for a James Ross Wightman using the biographical information he had listed on the certificate. Wightman would then go on to illegally vote in six local and national elections in 2022, 2023 and 2024. 

 

Wightman was arrested in Miami Beach on Jan. 24, and was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, 11th Judicial Circuit.

“Florida leads the nation in election security, and we continue to aggressively enforce our laws to stop non-citizens from voting," Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said.

"Under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, The Florida Department of State Office of Election Crimes and Security swiftly reviews allegations of fraud working with FDLE and law enforcement to ensure Florida laws are followed.”

The charges are the result of an investigation led by FDLE’s Election Crime Unit (ECU) working with the Florida Department of State Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS), U.S. Department of State, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Office (ICE) and with assistance from the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and Miami Beach Police Department assisted in the arrest.