Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) announced Wednesday that Coldwater Mayor Jose Ceballos is facing criminal charges for election fraud, just one day after being reelected to office.
According to Kobach, Ceballos is a Mexican citizen and a legal permanent resident of the United States, but not a U.S. citizen — a status that disqualifies him from voting or holding elected office under state law.
Coldwater City Attorney Skip Herd told local media that questions about Ceballos’s eligibility arose earlier this year when he applied for U.S. citizenship.
“He’s been a registered voter since 1990,” Herd said. “He applied for citizenship in February of this year, and through that, raised the issue of whether he was a legal citizen.”
Charges and Allegations
Kobach said his office has charged Ceballos with three counts of voting without being qualified and three counts of election perjury. If convicted on all charges, Ceballos could face more than five years in prison and fines totaling up to $200,000.
The attorney general emphasized that the case underscores the importance of integrity in the voting process.
“In large part, our system right now is based on trust,” Kobach said. “Trust that when the person signs the registration or signs the pollbooks saying that he’s a qualified elector or that he is a United States citizen, that the person is telling the truth. In this case, we allege that Mr. Ceballos violated that trust.”
State Officials Reviewing Voter Rolls
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab said officials have recently enhanced their ability to identify ineligible voters through federal verification tools.
“We now have tools, thanks to the current White House, that we haven’t had in over 10 years that we can check through the SAVE program, to find out if folks end up on our voter rolls,” Schwab said. “And they could be a legal resident, but they’re not a citizen.”
What Happens Next
City officials in Coldwater confirmed that Ceballos will be permitted to serve out the remaining two months of his current term. If his U.S. citizenship is not approved by the end of that period, the city council president will assume the role of mayor.
Ceballos’ case marks one of the few publicly known instances of a sitting U.S. mayor being charged with election-related crimes tied to immigration status. The Attorney General’s Office said additional details will be released as the prosecution moves forward.
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