West New York Woman Charged with Voting Before She Was a Citizen, Feds Say

A 24-year-old West New York woman is facing federal charges after prosecutors say she voted in two 2022 elections before she was a U.S. citizen, then later said she never had when she applied for citizenship.

Lizabeth Almonte Rosa was charged by criminal complaint with voting by a non-citizen in a federal election and unlawfully procuring U.S. citizenship, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced Wednesday, Oct. 7. She made her first court appearance that day before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacey D. Adams in federal court in Newark.

What prosecutors allege

According to the complaint and statements made in court, as described by the U.S. Attorney's Office:

• Almonte Rosa, who came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic on an IR2 immigrant visa, was not a citizen when she was registered to vote. Her voter registration form stated that she was a U.S. citizen.
• She voted in person in New Jersey's June 2022 primary and the November 2022 general election. Only U.S. citizens can register and vote in federal elections.
• She later applied to become a citizen through an N-400 naturalization application, which is signed under penalty of perjury. Prosecutors say she answered that she had never registered to vote or voted in a federal election.

Almonte Rosa is now a naturalized citizen, according to the release.

What the charges carry

The voting charge carries up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Unlawfully procuring citizenship carries up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Those are statutory maximums; any sentence, if she is convicted, would be decided by a judge.

The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services investigated the case. It was brought under the office's Election Integrity Task Force, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin D. Bleiberg is prosecuting.

It is the latest in a series of similar cases from the same office. The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey announced other non-citizen voting cases on Sept. 4, Sept. 17 and Sept. 24.

The charges in a criminal complaint are accusations only. Almonte Rosa is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, press release 26-216, Oct. 7, 2026.

Photo: Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Newark. Ajay Suresh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.