For Immediate Release
January 24, 2025
MIAMI – The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) arrested James Ross Wightman, 65, a British National, on six counts of voting illegally. Wightman is an illegal alien from the United Kingdom.
FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass said, “In Florida, we uphold the rule of law in our elections. Thanks to the leadership of Governor DeSantis, anyone who seeks to illegally cast their ballot will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
The charges are the result of an investigation led by FDLE’s Election Crime Unit (ECU) working with the Florida Department of State Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS), U.S. Department of State, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Office (ICE) and with assistance from the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and Miami Beach Police Department assisted in the arrest.
Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said, “Florida leads the nation in election security, and we continue to aggressively enforce our laws to stop non-citizens from voting. Under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, The Florida Department of State Office of Election Crimes and Security swiftly reviews allegations of fraud working with FDLE and law enforcement to ensure Florida laws are followed.”
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said, “Voting is a civic duty for every American citizen. James Wightman knew that he was not an American citizen having previously left for the United Kingdom when facing deportation. His lack of citizenship did not stop him from allegedly casting a vote in our elections. There is no excuse for such actions or conduct, which violate Florida law and cloud our voting integrity.”
Wightman was voluntarily deported from the United States in 1989 due to a drug offense arrest in Hawaii. He overstayed his Visitor Visa and was afforded voluntary deportation in Sept. 1989 in lieu of a formal deportation proceeding.
FDLE investigators say Wightman returned to the United States, where he falsely affirmed being a U.S. citizen on a voter registration application he submitted in Nov. 2000. In Nov. 2013, Wightman presented a fictitious Ohio birth certificate to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for the purposes of renewing his Florida Driver’s License. The Ohio Department of Health has confirmed that no birth certificates exist for a James Ross Wightman using the biographical information he had listed on the certificate. Wightman would then go on to illegally vote in six local and national elections in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Wightman was arrested in Miami Beach on Jan. 24, and was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, 11th Judicial Circuit.
For Further Information Contact:
FDLE Office of Public Information
Info@fdle.state.fl.us