A newly uncovered voter fraud case in Philadelphia is fueling a fierce national debate over election integrity, with immigration and election experts warning that even isolated incidents can erode public trust in the system.
Federal prosecutors say Mahady Sacko, a Mauritanian citizen living in the United States illegally, voted in multiple federal elections over a span of more than a decade. According to authorities, Sacko registered to vote in 2005 and falsely claimed U.S. citizenship. Records show he allegedly cast ballots in the general elections of 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024, along with the 2016 and 2020 primary elections.
Sacko, 50, had previously been issued a removal order in 2000, according to federal officials. He was recently arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and charged with voter fraud in Philadelphia.
The case is emerging as lawmakers in Washington battle over the SAVE Act, legislation supporters say would strengthen election safeguards by requiring proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
Immigration experts say the broader concern may not be the number of cases but how they affect public confidence in elections.
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital that perception plays a critical role in maintaining faith in democratic institutions.
“The most important thing is perception,” Hankinson said. “People have to believe that their vote counts. And so that’s, I think, a much more serious long-term threat.”
Hankinson argued that even the appearance of election irregularities can discourage participation.
“We have a perception in the United States that elections were free and fair,” he explained. “If even the appearance of impropriety, the appearance of corruption, is bad enough to turn people off, to make people not interested in going to vote, to think, ‘Well, my vote doesn’t count anyway,’ then that’s really what undermines democracy.”
Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of the election integrity group True the Vote, said the Sacko case highlights vulnerabilities in the system.
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“An illegal alien allegedly voting in every presidential election since 2008 is proof the system can fail — and we have no reliable, codified way to determine how many others may be doing the same,” Engelbrecht said.
She argued that stronger safeguards, including regular voter roll audits and real-time verification of citizenship and residency, could help restore public trust.
“The data exists, the technology exists, and other sectors use it every day,” Engelbrecht said. “What’s missing is political will to apply those same basic safeguards to our elections.”
However, some election experts say such incidents remain extraordinarily rare.
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said extensive reviews of voter data show that noncitizen voting occurs only in extremely small numbers.
“We have a very good sense of the depth of the problem here,” Becker said. “It is extremely rare that noncitizens get registered, and it is infinitesimally rare that they vote.”
According to Becker, the Department of Homeland Security has reviewed more than 49 million voter records and determined that 99.98 percent belonged to confirmed U.S. citizens.
Still, others warn that even a small number of unlawful votes could have consequences in close elections.
Hans von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commission commissioner and senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, argued that many states rely heavily on an honor system when registering voters.
“We have hundreds of close elections all the time in this country where even a small number of aliens could make the difference in an election,” von Spakovsky said.
He added that official registration records have shown noncitizens listed on voter rolls in several states, including Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
“The indicators that it is occurring are there,” von Spakovsky said. “And it is important to understand that every vote by an alien cancels and effectively voids the vote of a citizen.”
As the debate intensifies, the Philadelphia case is likely to be cited by both sides in the ongoing fight over election security, voter access, and the future of federal election laws.
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