What are the legal penalties if a green card holder votes in a federal election?

1. The baseline rule: federal elections are for citizens only

Since the early 20th century all states have restricted federal voting to citizens, and federal authorities continue to treat noncitizen voting in federal contests as unlawful; official guidance and longstanding explainer reporting note that permanent residents cannot vote in federal elections ^{[2] [1]}.

2. Criminal penalties and statute history

Congress added criminal penalties for noncitizen voting in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996; legal analyses and immigration law firms cite these federal provisions when warning that unlawful voting can expose green card holders to criminal prosecution as well as immigration consequences ^{[2] [3]}.

3. Immigration consequences: removal, inadmissibility, and bars to citizenship

Multiple immigration-focused sources state that unlawful voting can make a noncitizen inadmissible or removable, can trigger deportation proceedings, and may disqualify someone from naturalization or future visas — effectively jeopardizing permanent resident status and the path to citizenship ^{[3] [4] [5]}.

4. Reported punishments in high-profile prosecutions

Commentary about individual cases is used as exemplars in several legal blogs: reported sentences in past prosecutions include prison terms (examples cited include an eight‑year sentence reported in secondary sources) and substantial fines in some prosecutions; those reports are cited by immigration lawyers to underline severity ^{[6] [7] [8]}. Note that migration-policy research finds evidence of noncitizen voting at significant scale is lacking, and successful prosecutions are rare compared with public claims of widespread fraud ^[2].

5. Registration itself can trigger penalties

Several practitioner and advisory sites emphasize that merely registering to vote — especially signing a form that attests to U.S. citizenship — can be treated as a false claim of citizenship and is used as the predicate for both criminal charges and immigration consequences even if no ballot was cast ^{[9] [7] [10]}.

6. Variation at the state and local level — limited exceptions and traps

Some local jurisdictions have granted noncitizens limited voting rights in municipal elections; these exceptions do not extend to federal contests and can create confusion that leads green card holders to mistakenly register or vote in elections where citizenship is required ^{[9] [11]}. State registration forms that ask about citizenship mean mistakes or misattestations carry legal risk ^[9].

7. How common prosecutions are — competing perspectives

Migration Policy Center finds little evidence that noncitizen voting is widespread and notes audits and studies show such fraud is extremely rare; this contrasts with legal-advice sites that emphasize recent prosecutions and hard penalties—so the public danger is legally severe but statistically uncommon according to available research ^{[2] [7]}.

8. Practical takeaway for green card holders

Immigration and election specialists uniformly advise: do not register to vote or sign citizenship attestations; do not vote in federal elections; if a registration form was completed in error, seek legal advice promptly because even unintentional acts have been the basis for prosecution or removal in reported cases ^{[9] [7] [5]}.

Limitations and where reporting is thin

Available sources document legal consequences and cite statutes and individual prosecutions, but they do not provide a definitive, comprehensive list of statutory penalties with exact maximum fines or sentence ranges tied to specific federal code sections in these excerpts; for precise statutory language and sentencing ranges, consult the cited federal statutes or a licensed immigration attorney (not found in current reporting).