By Matt Rooney
Two more noncitizens have been charged with voting in New Jersey elections—including a man prosecutors say cast ballots in four consecutive presidential elections.
The announcement came Thursday, the same day Governor Mikie Sherrill demanded the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell, who also coincidentally (or uncoincidentally?) serves as secretary of state and New Jersey’s top election official.
Patrick Terrance Reid, 61, a Jamaican national living in Orange, and Danubis Bernat, 49, a Venezuelan national living in South Amboy, face charges of illegally voting and making false statements while applying for U.S. citizenship.
Prosecutors allege both falsely certified they were citizens when registering. Reid allegedly voted in person in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections and by mail in 2020 and 2024. Bernat allegedly voted in person in the 2024 general election.
Neither was a citizen when casting those ballots, according to federal authorities. Both later allegedly denied ever registering or voting when applying for naturalization.
These cases bring the number of defendants identified in federal prosecutions involving alleged noncitizen voting in New Jersey this year to at least 10, Save Jerseyans.
Four earlier defendants—David Neewilly, Jacenth Beadle Exum, Idan Choresh and Abhinandan Vig—were named in cases announced in May. All allegedly voted, although Beadle Exum and Vig face naturalization-related charges rather than separate illegal-voting counts.
In June, Toms River resident Eliezer Kadoch, a French citizen, pleaded guilty to illegally voting in the 2022 midterms. Middlesex County resident Marian Charitun was charged in July. Union County’s Mercedes Alexandra Cardoso and Hudson County’s Sanata Coulibaly were charged earlier this month. Coulibaly allegedly voted in four federal elections between 2018 and 2024.
That growing list makes Thursday’s collision of headlines particularly striking.
Sherrill called for Caldwell’s resignation after an investigation purportedly found ethics violations and sexual harassment, giving him until Friday to step down. His attorneys disputed the findings and said he had not been given an opportunity to address every allegation. Did the mounting scrutiny of New Jersey’s election system play any role in the timing of Sherrill’s demand?
Meanwhile, Reid and Bernat face maximum penalties of one year for illegal voting and 10 years for the citizenship-related charges.
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