5 non-citizens charged for illegally voting in Michigan elections

The Michigan attorney general's office charged six people with election law violations, alleging that five voted while not being U.S. citizens and alleging that a sixth registered a non-citizen spouse to vote. 

Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Thursday, following up on about 16 cases that the Michigan Secretary of State referred to her office during 2025 regarding the November 2024 general election. The attorney general's office also investigated 22 additional cases of suspected non-citizen voting or related conduct during elections held from 2009 to 2025. 

Of those total 38 cases, six resulted in criminal charges. Ten of the cases were closed without charges. That leaves 22 cases still under review. 

"In my office, we've always taken election crimes seriously, and prosecute attacks on our voting systems to the fullest extent of the law," Nessel said. "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." 

The applicable voter registrations have been canceled, the attorney general's office said. 

Charged with election law violations

Those who have been charged are as follows: 

Michael Akioya, 39, of Oak Park, charged with one count each of false statement on an absent voter ballot application and false statement on an absentee vote ballot return envelope between March 2025 and July 2025. Both are misdemeanor charges pending in the 45-B District Court in Oakland County. The attorney general's office said Akioya is a lawful permanent resident, but not a U.S. citizen. 

Kimberley DiDonato, 60, of Rose Township, was charged with one count each of election forgery and using a computer to commit a crime during April 2024. Both are felony charges pending in the 52-2 District Court in Oakland County. The attorney general's office said she is an American citizen married to a lawful permanent resident. Prosecutors allege that DiDonato falsely claimed her husband was a U.S. citizen and registered him online as a voter, claiming that she intended to test the registration system for vulnerabilities related to unqualified voter registrants.  

Alondra Harker, 26, of Three Rivers, was charged with election law - fraudulent registration when not a resident and qualified. This is a misdemeanor charge involving activity during November 2024, pending in the 3B District court in St. Joseph County. The attorney general's office said Harker is a limited-term resident and not a U.S. citizen. 

Harumi Michael, 60, of Wolverine Lake, was charged with two counts of election law forgery, one count of unqualified elector attempting to vote and one count of voter registration – false statement. The voter registration charge is a misdemeanor; the other three are felonies involving activity during October 2024 and are pending in the 52-1 District Court in Oakland County. The attorney general's office said Michael is a lawful permanent resident but not a U.S. citizen. 

Robert Piva, 67, of Roseville, was charged with one count each of election law perjury, unqualified elector attempting to vote and election law – fraudulent registration. The fraudulent registration charge is a misdemeanor; the other two are felonies, involving activity during September 2024 and October 2025, pending in the 39th District Court in Macomb County. The attorney general's office said Piva registered to vote online and then participated in early in-person voting. Piva has claimed his vote was an experiment concerning voter fraud, the attorney general's office said. 

Basanth Sadasivian, 29, living in the United Kingdom, was charged with an election law offense: attempting to vote as an unqualified elector. This is a felony charge regarding activity that happened as recently as November 2024 in Bloomfield Hills, pending in the 48th District Court in Oakland County. The attorney general's office alleges that Sadasivian registered to vote electronically via the Federal Post Card Application system, and then voted the same way in November 2024. 

Cases that were dropped 

The attorney general's office detailed the circumstances of four cases that are being dropped. 

Two other cases under investigation were actually U.S. citizens.  

One voter, who was involved in a "complicated international adoption as an infant many decades ago," is presumed to be a U.S. citizen, given the documentation that could be located in the case. 

Another referred voter was of a federally recognized American Indian who was born in Canada, and much of the documentation and language involving those people refer to them as dual citizens. 

Six other investigations were closed without criminal charges being filed, as the attorney general's office said it could not prove that the voters under review had knowledge or belief that they were unable to vote.