This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series brings you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
A citizen of Uzbekistan living in Rawlins pleaded guilty to unlawfully casting a ballot in the 2024 general election, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Maksim Sergeevich Shakirov pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of voting by an alien, or non-citizen, on Tuesday.
The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case in coordination with Homeland Security Investigations.
The plea comes nearly a year after Secretary of State Chuck Gray announced his office had identified three registered voters in Carbon, Lincoln and Teton counties as non-citizens. A fourth person was flagged in Johnson County this March. Gray removed them from Wyoming’s Statewide Voter Registration System, notified local county clerks and referred the individuals to law enforcement for further investigations.
His office had used the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) System, an online service administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that provides point in time immigration status and U.S. citizenship information to federal, state, local, territorial and tribal agencies.
Wyoming lawmakers in 2025 allowed the secretary of state to use the system to verify voters’ citizenship status.
The system was blocked by a federal judge in Washington, DC this June after the tool mistakenly flagged some eligible voters as potential noncitizens, though the U.S. Supreme Court revived its use for checking state voter rolls in September.
Shakirov’s sentencing is scheduled for January 14, 2027.
