Small-Town Leader at Center of Major State Investigation

Joe Ceballos, the mayor of Coldwater, has been charged with a crime by Kansas state authorities for allegedly voting unlawfully in several elections despite not being a citizen of the United States.

Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Attorney General Kris Kobach of Kansas announced the charges Wednesday, saying the case highlights their continued efforts to protect the integrity of the state’s elections.

The complaint alleges that Ceballos, a Mexican immigrant with valid permanent residence status, voted in at least three elections in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Despite being ineligible under Kansas and federal law, which limits voting rights to U.S. citizens, investigators assert he willfully registered and cast a ballot.

Prior to being elected mayor of Coldwater, a small rural municipality in Comanche County, Ceballos was a member of the city council. He is currently facing six felony counts.

These include voting while ineligible and perjury, which, if found guilty, might result in a term of more than five years in prison.

Attorney General Kobach stated in a statement issued on Wednesday that “noncitizen voting is a real problem.” It does not occur once every ten years; rather, it occurs quite frequently.

He underlined that his office had obtained what he called “unassailable evidence” that Ceballos was not a citizen of the United States at the time of his election and tenure in office.

Kobach stated that the discovery was a part of a larger examination of voter lists using federal data, but he would not elaborate on how investigators discovered Ceballos’ immigrant status.

Recently, Kansas officials were given access to an immigration database that enables them to cross-reference voter registration data with Department of Homeland Security records.

According to Kansas law, states must keep up-to-date voter registration lists, often known as voter rolls.

Ineligible voters, such as those who have moved, passed away, or lost their ability to vote, are eliminated from these databases on a regular basis.

Officials acknowledge that the system isn’t flawless, though.

“Trust is essential to our elections,” Kobach stated. We take it at face value when someone declares they are a citizen of the United States by signing a poll book or registration form. We claim that Mr. Ceballos betrayed that confidence in this instance.

Additionally, Kobach noted that although it is not illegal to occupy municipal office as a noncitizen in Kansas, doing so raises significant questions regarding oversight and election transparency in the community.

“It’s important to remember that city officials, particularly mayors, have to be citizens of the United States,” he stated. “Voters expect that important standard to be upheld.”

When state officials compared voter data with immigration records earlier this year and discovered inconsistencies associated with Ceballos’s name, the investigation got underway.

According to people familiar with the matter, Ceballos’s registration seemed legitimate at first, but upon closer inspection, it turned out that he had never finished the naturalization procedure to become a citizen, Fox News Digital reported.

When Ceballos registered to vote, he allegedly fraudulently claimed to being a U.S. citizen, and he later reiterated that claim under oath, according to the lawsuit reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Prosecutors contend that he had several chances to rectify the inaccurate information but decided not to, and that his actions were intentional.

One of the most well-known prosecutions of accused noncitizen voting in Kansas in recent years is this case.

Additionally, it reignites an ongoing discussion about the level of voter fraud in the state, which has been a major focus of Kobach’s political career.

Kobach supported one of the nation’s most stringent voter ID laws, which required evidence of citizenship at the time of voter registration, while serving as Kansas’s secretary of state from 2011 to 2019.

In 2018, a federal judge declared that the statute was unconstitutional due to its violation of federal election laws and that the scant evidence of voter fraud did not support it.

The court determined that the small amount of evidence showing noncitizens voting both before and after the law’s passage did not support the state’s argument.

Kobach and Schwab have persisted in calling for stricter election regulations in spite of that decision.

They contend that the state will be better able to spot inconsistencies with the use of new verification techniques and access to federal databases.

In order to make sure that only eligible individuals stay registered, Kobach stated that Kansas will keep auditing voter rolls and comparing them to federal data.

Ceballos, who ran for reelection in the local election last month, has refrained from making any public remarks regarding the accusations.

According to officials, the investigation has not yet certified the race’s outcome.

On December 3, he will appear in Comanche County District Court for the first time.

The accusations are made during a contentious political time in Kansas and across the country, as discussions about election integrity are once again in the public eye in advance of the 2026 midterm elections.

While many Democrats continue to contend that such examples are uncommon and frequently exaggerated for political reasons, Republican leaders have seized on the case as proof that voting fraud is still a genuine and persistent threat.

Meanwhile, a distinct national political impasse is occurring at the same time as the controversy in Kansas.

Due to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over budget priorities, the federal government has been partially closed for almost 40 days.

Following their party’s victories in state and local elections the day before, Democratic leaders in Congress wrote to President Trump on Wednesday morning, seeking bipartisan discussions to reopen the government.

Negotiators are reportedly exploring a “three-legged” strategy to end the shutdown, according to Axios reports.

A short-term funding plan to extend government operations, Senate votes on Affordable Care Act tax credits, and a separate package addressing military construction, legislative branch costs, and agricultural programs are all part of the proposed framework.

Before the shutdown started, the House had already passed a temporary funding bill, but Senate Democrats kept blocking similar bills because they wanted more extensive budget talks.

The House would have to meet again to adopt the new plan, which might prolong financing until late November, if the Senate can agree.

Officials in Kansas said they are still concentrating on the Ceballos case for the time being because they believe it may reveal more serious flaws in the voter registration process.

Kobach stated, “This case is not about one person.” “It’s about rebuilding trust in the process and preserving the integrity of our elections.”