AG Nessel Announces Charges Against 5 Non-Citizens for Voting in 2024 Elections in Michigan

LANSING – Today, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges against five non-citizens alleged to have voted in Michigan’s 2024 November general election, and one U.S. citizen alleged to have registered their non-citizen spouse to vote.

Throughout 2025, the Michigan Department of State referred to the Department of Attorney General 16 cases of suspected non-citizen voting in the 2024 November general election. In 2026, an additional 22 cases have been referred to the Michigan Department of Attorney General concerning suspected non-citizen voting or adjacent conduct in elections spanning from 2009 to 2025. Six cases have resulted in criminal charges, ten have been closed without charges, and 22 remain under review.

The Attorney General has charged:

• Michael Akioya (PDF), 39, of Oak Park, with one count each of:
• False Statement on an Absent Voter Ballot Application, contrary to MCL 168.759, a 90-day misdemeanor, and
• False Statement on an Absentee Vote Ballot Return Envelope, contrary to MCL 168.761(5), a 90-day misdemeanor.

• Kimberley DiDonato (PDF), 60, of Rose Township, with one count each of:
• Election Forgery, contrary to MCL 168.933a(a), a 5-year felony, and
• Using a Computer to Commit a Crime, contrary to MCL 752.797(3)(d), a 7-year felony.

• Alondra Harker (PDF), 26, of Three Rivers, with one count of:
• Election Law – Fraudulent Registration, contrary to MCL 168.519, a 90-day misdemeanor.

• Harumi Michael (PDF), 60, of Wolverine Lake, with:
• Two counts of Election Law Forgery, contrary to MCL 168.933A, a 5-year felony,
• One count of Unqualified Elector Attempting to Vote, contrary to 168.932a(c), a 4-year felony, and
• One count of Voter Registration – False Statement, contrary to MCL 168.499(1),a 90-day misdemeanor.

• Robert Piva (PDF), 67, of Roseville, with one count each of:
• Election Law Perjury, contrary to MCL 168.933, a 5-year felony,
• Unqualified Elector Attempting to Vote, contrary to MCL 168.932a(c), a 4-year felony, and
• Election Law – Fraudulent Registration, contrary to MCL 168.519, a 90-day misdemeanor.

• Basanth Sadasivian (PDF), 29, residing in the United Kingdom, with one count of:
• Election Law – Unqualified Elector Attempting to Vote, contrary to MCL 168.932a(c), a 4-year felony.

“In my office, we’ve always taken election crimes seriously, and prosecute attacks on our voting systems to the fullest extent of the law,” said Attorney General Nessel. “We’re upholding election integrity by investigating all claims of non-citizen voters, as rare as they are, and holding bad actors accountable when they refuse to abide by the laws that keep our elections safe and secure. These charges reflect the severity of the allegations, the sanctity of our democracy, and the tremendous consequences of voting illegally— whether that’s done to try and ‘test’ security measures or to make an unlawful vote count.”

Michael Akioya is a lawful permanent resident, though not an American citizen and therefore ineligible to vote in any state and federal elections. It is alleged Akioya was registered to vote in 2016 with an Inkster address and voted in the 2024 general election by absentee ballot in Oak Park, attesting to U.S. citizenship on his application and ballot envelope. Akioya was charged in March of 2026 with one count each of False Statement on an Absent Voter Ballot Application and False Statement on an Absentee Vote Ballot Return Envelope. He was arraigned on May 13^th and will next appear before the 45^th District Court in Oak Park for a pretrial conference on August 25^th.

Kimberley DiDonato is an American citizen married to a lawful permanent resident who is ineligible to vote in any state and federal elections. It is alleged DiDonato, posing as her non-citizen husband, falsely claimed he was an American citizen, provided her husband’s identifying information, and registered him to vote online in April of 2024. It is further alleged that upon receiving a voter registration card in her husband’s name, DiDonato contacted her local clerk to cancel the registration in May of that year. DiDonato has claimed her intent was to test the registration system for vulnerabilities to unqualified voter registrants. DiDonato is charged with one count each of Election Law Forgery and Using a Computer to Commit a Crime. She was arraigned on June 25^th and will next appear before the 52-2 District Court in Clarkston for preliminary examination on August 20^th.

Alondra Harker is a limited term alien resident, though not an American citizen and therefore ineligible to vote in any state and federal elections. It is alleged Harker registered and voted in-person in the 2024 general election in Three Rivers. Harker is charged with Election Law – Fraudulent Registration. She was arraigned on July 7^th and will next appear before the 3B District Court in Centreville for a pretrial conference on September 10^th.

Harumi Michael is a lawful permanent resident, though not an American citizen and therefore ineligible to vote in any state and federal elections. It is alleged Michael registered to vote in 2024 and voted in-person in the 2024 general election in Commerce Township. Michael is charged with two counts of Election Law Forgery, one count of Unqualified Elector Attempting to Vote, and one count of Voter Registration – False Statement. She was arraigned in the 52-1 District Court in Novi on April 24^th and bound over to Circuit Court on June 3^rd. She will next appear before the 6th Circuit Court in Oakland County for a pretrial conference on August 27^th.

Robert Piva is a lawful permanent resident, though not an American citizen and therefore ineligible to vote in any state and federal elections. It is alleged Piva registered to vote online in September 2024 and voted in-person at an early voting location in Roseville in October of that year. Piva has claimed his vote was an experiment concerning voter fraud. Piva is charged with one count each of Election Law Perjury, Unqualified Elector Attempting to Vote, and Election Law – Fraudulent Registration. He was arraigned on August 12^th and will next appear before the 39th District Court in Roseville on August 26^th. 

Basanth Sadasivian presently resides in the United Kingdom and is not an American citizen. It is alleged Sadasivian registered to vote in 2024 by email via the Federal Post Card Application system, using a Bloomfield Hills address, and voted under that same federal system in the 2024 general election. Sadasivian is charged with one count of Election Law – Unqualified Elector Attempting to Vote.

Upon investigation by the Michigan Department of Attorney General, it was determined that two voters subject to cases referred by the Michigan Department of State were American citizens. Another voter, subject to a complicated international adoption as an infant many decades ago, is presumed an American citizen; additionally, her federal alien file is both missing and irreplicable due to the passage of time. Another referred voter carries a legal residency status as a federally recognized American Indian Born in Canada; though this does not confer citizenship and voting rights it does confer many residence, entry, and other privileges the same as enjoyed by American and Canadian citizens, and much of the paperwork and language around this status designation refers to such individuals as dual citizens. The Department of Attorney General will not be issuing charges against these four voters.

“While the question of whether any given resident is a citizen may feel simple, some cases are nuanced in unexpected ways,” said Attorney General Nessel. “The federal government has not always provided easy or open access to certain necessary citizenship records, and so our investigators had to spend considerable time and effort coaxing cooperation from the federal agencies. These delays contributed significantly to our timeline for review.”

In six other cases concerning alleged 2024 general election votes cast by non-citizens, the Department of Attorney General has closed its investigation and review without issuing criminal charges because in each case either the Department would be unable to prove the voter had the requisite knowledge or belief they were unqualified to vote or that the voter would be likely to successfully argue entrapment by estoppel in defense against such charges when the point and manner of voter registration was unknown and the government took actions to encourage election participation by registered voters. In several cases, the Department of Attorney General investigation was unable to determine the voters’ means of registration. Further underlying the necessity of being able to demonstrate how a voter came to be registered, MCL 168.493(a)(8) specifically prohibits prosecuting an ineligible voter for registering to vote “who, without intending to register to vote, becomes registered to vote through human or mechanical error.” The six closed cases, each referred to the Michigan Department of Attorney General in 2025, concern:

• A Detroit woman, a lawful permanent resident registered to vote since 2003, voted four times between 2010 and 2024.
• A Grand Blanc man, a lawful permanent resident, voted in the 2024 general election, and on seven other occasions since 2011.
• A Grand Rapids man, holding employment authorization within the United States though not a citizen, voted in the 2024 general election, though after his voter registration had been challenged in 2018 and his status affirmed and reactivated by the local clerk that same year.
• A Kimball Township man, a lawful permanent resident, voted in-person in the 2024 general election.
• An Oak Park woman, a lawful permanent resident, voted in eight elections from 2021 to 2024.
• A Wyandotte man, a lawful permanent resident registered to vote in 2013, voted in-person in the 2024 general election and on four other occasions since 2013.

Voter registrations associated with every identified non-citizen voter, charged or otherwise, have been cancelled.

“Determining the point and manner of registration is essential for many of these cases because prosecuting residents over registrations made by agency error, when they made no false statement, is expressly prohibited by statute. If the government then encourages their vote or application for a ballot based upon that registration, entrapment by estoppel becomes a viable defense,” said Attorney General Nessel. “This is the concept that criminal conduct may have occurred, but a conviction would be unjust when the defendant acted in reliance on a reasonable government authority."

The Michigan Department of Attorney General’s review over 22 open cases referred in 2025 and 2026 remains ongoing.

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