A 60-year-old Oakland County resident accused of fraudulently registering her non-citizen husband to vote ahead of the 2024 presidential contest has been ordered by a judge to stand trial on multiple felony charges, state law enforcement officials confirmed.
The defendant, Kimberley DiDonato of Rose Township, was bound over to the Oakland County Circuit Court following preliminary proceedings in district court, according to a formal update released by the Michigan Attorney General's Office. The legal determination transfers the case to the circuit bench, setting the stage for formal trial litigation in the county.
State prosecutors have filed two distinct felony counts against DiDonato in connection with the incident. She stands formally charged with one count of election forgery, an offense that carries a statutory maximum penalty of up to five years of imprisonment, as well as one count of using a computer to commit a crime, a separate violation carrying a potential prison term of up to seven years upon conviction.
According to official court dockets and procedural records, DiDonato is slated to appear before an Oakland County Circuit Court judge for her formal circuit court arraignment on September 22. DiDonato’s retained defense attorney, Kevin Kijewski, was not immediately reachable to offer a statement or respond to questions regarding the upcoming proceedings or the district court's binding-over decision.
The allegations at the center of the state's prosecution stem from an online registration transaction conducted in the spring of 2024. Investigators allege that DiDonato accessed the state's digital voter registration system in April 2024, impersonated her husband, supplied his personal identifying details, and affirmatively submitted a fraudulent declaration asserting that he was an American citizen eligible to cast a ballot in the November presidential election.
Law enforcement records emphasize the stark difference in legal status between the spouses. DiDonato herself is a United States citizen, whereas her spouse holds status as a lawful permanent resident carrying a green card. Under established federal regulations and Michigan state statutory law, lawful permanent residents and other non-citizen immigrants are strictly prohibited from registering or casting ballots in state or federal elections.
Following the initial submission of the electronic paperwork, the application was processed through local channels, and an official voter identification card was mailed to the couple's Rose Township residence. Upon receiving the card in the mail, DiDonato made contact with the Rose Township municipal clerk's office in May 2024 to formally request the cancellation and removal of the newly registered voter profile from the municipal rolls.
When questioned regarding the motivation behind the registration, prosecutors said DiDonato contended that her actions were part of an independent effort to evaluate election security measures. She claimed that she had submitted the false application intentionally to test whether the online registration portal possessed security flaws or vulnerabilities that would permit unqualified non-citizens to successfully register to vote.
The formal charges against DiDonato originated from a broader investigative effort undertaken by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. The Attorney General's Office announced the charges against the Rose Township resident alongside separate cases involving five non-U.S. citizens who were accused of unlawfully casting ballots during the 2024 election in Michigan.
In announcing the transfer of the case to circuit court, Attorney General Nessel emphasized that safeguarding public confidence in the integrity of democratic processes demands uncompromising legal accountability. She highlighted that even when individuals claim well-intentioned or investigative motives, deliberate violations of statutory registration mandates cannot be overlooked by law enforcement authorities.
"Trust in our election system requires holding people accountable in the rare instance that they violate our statutes," Nessel stated regarding the prosecution. The Attorney General further remarked that her office was pleased to see the case advance toward trial, adding that state prosecutors will continue to uphold their fundamental duty to investigate alleged breaches of Michigan Election Law and hold criminal offenders accountable.
The Rose Township case is part of a broader series of legal actions that Michigan prosecutors have brought to address infractions involving the administration of state election statutes. Law enforcement officials have pursued several high-profile cases across the region to penalize misconduct ranging from local municipal ballot improprieties to coordinated petition fraud schemes.
In one recent local case, a city council member from Hamtramck was sentenced to serve a term of probation alongside mandated community service hours. That sentence followed the councilman's misdemeanor conviction for entering a false statement on an official application for an absentee ballot in Wayne County.
In another significant election-related prosecution from earlier in the year, a Macomb County judge sentenced one of two ringleaders behind a massive fraudulent petition signature operation. The defendant in that case received a prison sentence ranging from four to twenty years behind bars for fabricating signatures on nomination petitions, a criminal enterprise that ultimately led to the disqualification of multiple prominent candidates from the August 2022 primary ballot.
With DiDonato's case now officially transferred to the Oakland County Circuit Court docket, the judicial process will proceed toward her scheduled late-September arraignment and subsequent trial dates. State prosecutors maintain that unauthorized digital submissions and false assertions of citizenship constitute serious felony violations under state law, regardless of claims that the actions were meant as a security test.
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