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Published on January 25, 2025
British National Charged with Illegal Voting in Six Florida Elections After Prior U.S. DeportationSource: Miami Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation

A British man, James Ross Wightman, was arrested on charges of having voted illegally in six South Florida elections. The 65-year-old faced arrest in Miami Beach yesterday and is currently facing six counts of illegal voting. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) states that Wightman had a previous deportation from the U.S. in 1989 following a drug arrest in Hawaii and managed to illegally return and engage in the voting process, as reported by Local10 and WSVN.

According to voter records, Wightman registered to vote on November 1, 2000, and has been living at an apartment on Pennsylvania Avenue in South Beach. His arrest suggests that one may not always simply be able to return to a country from which they've been deported and commence to illegally cast votes in elections. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement obtained by Local10, there is "no excuse for such actions or conduct." Wightman also presented a fake Ohio birth certificate to renew his Florida driver’s license in 2013, which authorities discovered was not valid.

Wightman's voting activity included participation in local and national elections in 2022, 2023, and 2024. He allegedly voted while being registered as a no-party voter. The investigation leading to his arrest was a collaborative effort involving the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections office along with federal agencies, indicating the seriousness with which voter fraud is taken. After his arrest, Wightman was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, and, as WSVN reports, was held on a $15,000 bond and an immigration hold as of yesterday afternoon.

The case underscores ongoing concerns about election integrity and the lengths to which individuals may go to participate unlawfully in the electoral process. It also raises questions about how someone who was deported could undetectedly reenter and remain in the U.S. for such an extended period. FDLE's discovery of the invalid Ohio birth certificate was pivotal in bringing the fraudulent activity to light.

Miami-Crime & Emergencies