A 61-year-old Jamaican national from Orange and a 49-year-old Venezuelan national from South Amboy are facing federal charges after prosecutors say they voted in New Jersey elections for years while still green card holders, not U.S. citizens. Patrick Terrance Reid allegedly cast ballots in the 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections, while Danubis Bernat allegedly voted in the November 2024 general election, according to charges filed against both.
Reid made his initial court appearance on September 24 before U.S. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa in Newark, while Bernat appeared the same day before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni in Trenton, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Both are charged with voting in a federal election while not a U.S. citizen and making false statements during the naturalization process, as reported by Shore News Network. Prosecutors allege Reid voted in person in 2012 and 2016 and by mail in 2020 and 2024, and that both defendants falsely certified U.S. citizenship on their voter registration applications and later denied ever having registered or voted when they applied for naturalization.
Reid originally entered the United States from Jamaica on an immigrant visa, while Bernat entered from Venezuela on a tourist visa, before each obtained lawful permanent resident status, court documents filed September 24 show. Both defendants' cases also include allegations of false statements during the naturalization process. The case against both defendants was brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey's Election Integrity Task Force.
Naturalization Allegations in the Reid and Bernat Cases
The Reid and Bernat cases also involve their naturalization applications: prosecutors allege both made false statements during the process. The investigations into Reid and Bernat were conducted jointly by the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and USCIS.
The potential penalties are steep. The USCIS release says voting by a noncitizen carries up to one year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine, while lying on a citizenship application carries up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The charges also include making false statements during the naturalization process.
Part of a Statewide and Nationwide Enforcement Push
Reid and Bernat are not isolated cases. Federal prosecutors have also brought voting-related charges against noncitizens in New Jersey, as the Campos Law Firm has reported. Earlier in September, prosecutors brought parallel charges against Ecuadoran national Mercedes Alexandra Cardoso in Union County and Hudson County resident Sanata Coulibaly, both accused of voting in federal elections before acquiring citizenship, Insider NJ reported. Hoodline previously covered the nationwide sweep tied to Cardoso's case.
On September 28, the Justice Department announced a coordinated nationwide enforcement action covering criminal charges and guilty pleas involving 12 individuals across federal districts in New Jersey, Kansas, Florida, and Pennsylvania. That announcement followed related Hoodline coverage of a Miami-Dade woman’s guilty plea and a Boise man’s indictment.
A Separate Controversy Over New Jersey's Voter Rolls
The Reid and Bernat cases are distinct from a separate controversy that dominated New Jersey politics over the summer: a Motor Vehicle Commission software glitch that improperly transmitted roughly 6,600 noncitizens into voter registration processing between June 2023 and June 2024, as The Daily Signal reported in July. State officials said those individuals had answered that they were not U.S. citizens when asked by the MVC, yet the system processed them for registration anyway, and vendor IDEMIA disputed being solely responsible, saying its technology transmitted information while the state determined voter eligibility.
New Jersey has since placed roughly 5,100 of those registrations in deleted status and held about 1,450 in rejected status pending county review as of August, with the error reportedly causing approximately 340 newly registered people to actually vote. Absent evidence connecting the two matters, the Reid and Bernat prosecutions remain separate from the MVC failure, which involves automated system transmission rather than the individual false citizenship attestations prosecutors allege in the Reid and Bernat cases. State officials said the affected individuals had answered that they were not U.S. citizens, rather than falsely attesting to citizenship.
