Jose Ceballos, the mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, shouldn’t have been allowed to vote for himself because he isn’t even a citizen, the state’s attorney general said in bringing criminal charges against the man.
Kris Kobach, the Republican attorney general, said Mr. Ceballos cast illegal votes in 2022, 2023 and 2024, earning him felony charges for voting without being qualified and election perjury.
Mr. Kobach said state law also generally requires officeholders to be a “qualified elector.” He said Mr. Ceballos may have been illegally serving, but he said it will be up to the city attorney in Coldwater to make a determination.
“In Kansas, it is against the law to vote if you are not a U.S. citizen. We allege that Mr. Ceballos did it multiple times,” Mr. Kobach said.
He said Mr. Ceballos is a citizen of Mexico and only has legal permanent resident status in the U.S.
He won reelection as mayor on Tuesday.
Though Coldwater’s city council held an emergency meeting on Wednesday, Council President Britt Lenertz said they are taking a wait-and-see approach.
“While the recent allegations involving the mayor are understandably concerning, we will allow the proper legal process to take its course before making any further comments. It’s important that we respect both due process and the integrity of our local government,” she said in a statement posted to the council’s Facebook page.
Jewell Falletti posted a reply to the page asking people to “be kind” to her father.
“I can promise you that he TRULY didn’t know that he couldn’t vote or run for the positions that he ran and served. It is a very sad day,” she said.
The city attorney, in comments reported by local news media in Kansas, said Mr. Ceballos has been a registered voter since 1990. He applied for citizenship earlier this year.
Mr. Ceballos’ case comes just weeks after Ian Roberts, the superintendent of public schools in Des Moines, Iowa, was arrested by Homeland Security for being an illegal immigrant.
His name has also been registered as a voter in Maryland for more than a decade, despite federal authorities saying he doesn’t have legal status, much less citizenship.
Mr. Kobach and Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab said Mr. Ceballos’s name flagged in a federal database as being a noncitizen.
The Trump administration has made it easier for states to use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database to check voter rolls, and several GOP-led states have done so.
“Voting by noncitizens, including both legal and illegal aliens, is a very real problem. It happens,” Mr. Kobach said. “Every time a noncitizen votes, it effectively cancels out a U.S. citizen’s vote.”
An attempt to reach Mr. Ceballos at the mayor’s office was unsuccessful.
Mr. Ceballos served two terms on the city council before first winning the mayor’s office in 2021, according to The Kansas Reflector.
The outlet said Ms. Lenertz, the council president, said in an interview that they are not sure whether the actions Mr. Ceballos took as mayor will be legally suspect.
As mayor, his duties included managing the day-to-day operations of the city, appointing key city officials and presiding over council meetings.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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