Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has announced the arrests of three non-citizens accused of illegally casting votes in recent elections.
The probe began earlier this year when federal officials alerted Griffin’s office to discrepancies between the voters’ records and their citizenship status.
Working alongside Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, investigators identified three individuals who had illegally voted.
All three women face felony charges for violating Arkansas election laws, with two also charged with perjury for falsely claiming U.S. citizenship on voter registration forms.
Cecilia Castellanos, 59, of Rogers, was arrested and charged with one count of perjury (a Class C felony) and one Class D felony count for violating Arkansas’s election laws.
Castellanos is a Cuban national with a pending order of removal from an immigration judge dating back to 1999 and has three prior felony convictions in New York state. She allegedly marked on her voter registration form that she was a U.S. citizen and had no prior felonies, then proceeded to vote illegally in the 2024 general election.
Zlata Risley, 50, of Hot Springs Village, faces one Class D felony count for violating Arkansas’s election laws. Originally from Kazakhstan, she is a lawful permanent resident but not a U.S. citizen. She is accused of voting illegally in the 2024 primary.
Chi Baum, 59, of Texarkana, was charged with one count of perjury (a Class C felony) and one Class D felony count for violating Arkansas’s election laws. From Nigeria, she holds conditional permanent resident status but is not a citizen.
Like Castellanos, Baum allegedly falsely claimed citizenship on her registration form and voted in the 2024 general election.
Attorney General Griffin emphasized the state’s commitment to election security in a statement, writing, “Arkansas’s elections are sound and secure, which is why we deal swiftly and decisively when rare infractions like these come to our attention. I am committed to preserving the integrity of our democratic process.”
Griffin credited his office’s Special Investigations Division’s Election Integrity Unit and local prosecuting attorneys for their work on the cases.
Investigators in my office have arrested three noncitizens for illegally voting in our elections despite not having the status to do so. Arkansas’s elections are sound and secure, which is why we deal swiftly and decisively when rare infractions like these come to our attention.… pic.twitter.com/gZCnAZPCn2
— Attorney General Tim Griffin (@AGTimGriffin) October 2, 2025
In a post on X, Griffin wrote:
“Investigators in my office have arrested three noncitizens for illegally voting in our elections despite not having the status to do so. Arkansas’s elections are sound and secure, which is why we deal swiftly and decisively when rare infractions like these come to our attention. I am committed to preserving the integrity of our democratic process.
This investigation began earlier this year when federal officials notified us about certain voters in Arkansas whose voting records appeared to be incongruent with their citizenship status. We worked with @HSI_HQ and determined there to be three individuals whose conduct warranted further investigation, which led us to the arrests made this week.
I am grateful to the investigators in my office’s Election Integrity Unit for their excellent work on these cases, and for the assistance of @ARSecofState Cole Jester and Prosecutors Bryan Sexton, Michelle Lawrence, and Connie Mitchell.”
Secretary of State Cole Jester added, “American elections are for American citizens. Anything less is totally unacceptable. I am deeply thankful for Attorney General Tim Griffin’s diligent investigation of these crimes, and I am proud to have partnered with his team. We will always fight to keep Arkansas number one in the country for election security.”
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