A federal judge has sentenced Canadian citizen Denis Bouchard, 70, to two months in federal prison for making false claims of United States citizenship to vote in North Carolina elections, including the 2022 and 2024 presidential elections. Bouchard, who has resided in the U.S. since the 1960s but never became a citizen, illegally certified his U.S. citizenship on voter registration applications and ballots.
Voting records confirm that Bouchard unlawfully cast ballots in nine federal elections between 2004 and 2024. He pleaded guilty to two counts of 18 U.S.C. § 1015(f) and will also face one year of supervised release and immigration consequences.
“We will not allow aliens to disrupt and degrade the U.S. democratic system by lying to pervert the outcome our elections. Every American citizen’s vote is sacred. Allowing a single illegal vote by any ineligible person destroys and negates a citizen’s vote,” United States Attorney W. Ellis Boyle said. He added, “The prison sentence that the Court imposed sends a strong warning about the consequences of attempting to take advantage of this country’s free and fair election process. We will protect the Constitutional right of citizens to vote, and prosecute those who attempt to corrupt that system.”
The announcement was made by W. Ellis Boyle, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, after the sentence was announced by the Honorable James C. Dever. The FBI investigated the case, with assistance from the North Carolina Board of Elections and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Haughton prosecuted the case.