Daijiworld Media Network – Kansas
Kansas, Nov 7: In a startling development, Jose “Joe” Ceballos, the recently re-elected mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, has been charged with multiple election-related crimes for allegedly voting despite not being a US citizen.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced that Ceballos, 54, a Mexican national and legal permanent US resident, faces three counts each of election perjury and voting without qualification. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 68 months in prison and fines totaling $200,000.
Ceballos, who was re-elected this week in the small southwestern Kansas town of 687 residents, is accused of voting in three elections—2022, 2023, and the 2024 primary—while not being a citizen. A hearing on the case is scheduled for December 3.
Coldwater City Attorney Skip Herd told KWCH-TV that Ceballos, who has held a green card since 1990, drew attention earlier this year when he applied for US citizenship. “Through that process, it came to light that he was not a legal citizen,” Herd said.
Coldwater City Council President Britt Lenertz confirmed that the mayor has convened a special meeting with council members to discuss the issue. “Our focus remains on ensuring that city operations continue to run smoothly and that the needs of our community are met,” Lenertz said, adding that Ceballos may complete the remaining two months of his term unless his citizenship is approved sooner.
Despite the controversy, Lenertz praised Ceballos for his service. “As a mayor and as a councilmember, he’s always put our community first,” she said.
Kobach emphasized that Kansas law mandates city officials to be qualified electors, meaning they must be US citizens. He described noncitizen voting as “a real problem,” noting that Kansas now uses the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to verify citizenship among registered voters.
“The only way you can discover that a noncitizen is on the voter rolls is if external information comes to light,” Kobach explained. “In this case, we allege that Mr. Ceballos violated that trust.”
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab echoed Kobach’s concerns, stressing that the goal is to maintain voter confidence rather than criminalize errors. “It’s about showing the people of Kansas that our voter rolls are as clean as we can make them,” he said.
Former President Donald Trump also lauded Schwab for using the SAVE system to “protect the integrity of our elections.” Kobach added that the initiative could reveal “hundreds” of similar cases, saying, “Every noncitizen vote cancels out the vote of a US citizen.”
The unfolding case has left the small Coldwater community divided—torn between loyalty to a popular mayor and the legal question of his eligibility to serve.