Are California Registering Non-citizens To Vote

The claim: 449K Californians who were excused from jury duty because they are not citizens are allowed to vote

Variations of the claim have appeared on Facebook and on other social media sites for almost two years. In a May 12 post, Facebook user Jim Trimble accused officials in California of allowing noncitizens to vote while banning them from serving on juries.

"449K Californians excused from jury duty for not beingness citizens but are registered voters. Did that merely register?" Trimble wrote.

The states TODAY reached out to Trimble for comment.

A September 2018 Facebook post by the political ideology group Capitalism chosen for all California votes to be nullified and its representatives removed from Congress. The state, "refused to cooperate with the Federal Election Integrity Program" and was registering noncitizens to vote, the mail claimed.

The origin of both posts appears to be a July 2018 tweet by Students for Trump founder Ryan Fournier, FactCheck.org reported. Fournier'due south message is identical to the ane that was posted by the Capitalism group a few months after.

What is the Federal Election Integrity Program?

In May 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the Presidential Advisory Committee on Election Integrity. The purpose of the commission was to study registration and voting processes used in federal elections, including improper and fraudulent voting, according to The White Business firm.

Only the commission was dissolved in 2018 after states refused to comply with Vice Chair Kris Kobach'southward request to provide extensive voter registration data. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and the American Civil Liberties Union also filed lawsuits against the government to protect private data, according to the Federal Judicial Commission.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla was one of several state officials to deny the commission's asking for voter data.

"As Secretarial assistant of State, it is my duty to ensure the integrity of our elections and to protect the voting rights and privacy of our land's voters. I will not provide sensitive voter information to a committee that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally," Padilla stated in the printing release.

Does California allow noncitizens to vote?

Merely registered voters are allowed to vote in California's master or general elections. Registration is restricted to U.S. citizens who are California residents and who are at least 18 years erstwhile on Election Day.

Country or federal prisoners, felony parolees and those found mentally incompetent to vote by a court are not permitted to register, co-ordinate to Paula Valle Castanon, a representative for Padilla.

"Federal police force requires that voters attest, under penalty of perjury, that they meet eligibility requirements — including citizenship. This is the instance no affair the source of registration — paper, DMV, or online," Valle said in an email.

In October 2018, Padilla canceled about one,500 incorrect voter registrations resulting from a processing fault by the California Section of Motor Vehicles, the Associated Press reported. Noncitizens were included amidst the registrants.

But the merits may have dislocated eligibility to vote in California with the urban center of San Francisco's move to let noncitizens to vote in local schoolhouse board elections. The Los Angeles Times reported on the conclusion in 2018.

Were noncitizens who were excused from jury duty allowed to vote?

Information technology'due south hard to track why someone may have been dismissed from jury duty because various counties and courts handle jury option, Valle said.

But merely the courts can disqualify someone from serving based on factors listed in the California Code of Civil Procedure, said Blaine Corren, public affairs analyst for the Judicial Council of California.

Corren also said automatic voter registrations filed through the DMV are reviewed by the Secretarial assistant of State's Part.

"If the data shows they are not eligible, the Secretary of State's part cancels their erroneous request to register," Corren said in an e-mail.

An annual jury data report showed that 425,814 Californians were disqualified from jury duty in fiscal 2017-xviii for "not being a citizen of the The states," according to the Judicial Branch of California.

Moreover, Sam Mahood, a spokesman for the California Secretary of State, ,told PolitiFact that "it'south not true that 449,000 noncitizens were registered to vote."

Fact-bank check website Snopes also debunked a nigh identical claim on Facebook in 2018 and reported that undocumented immigrants in California are ineligible for jury duty and prohibited from voting in U.Southward. elections.

Our rating: False

We charge per unit this claim Imitation because information technology was not supported by our research. California does not allow residents who are not citizens of the U.S. to vote in primary or general elections. There is besides no proof that nearly 450,000 noncitizens were registered to vote.

Our fact-cheque sources:

FactCheck.org, Simulated Merits of California Registering Noncitizens to Vote
Whitehouse.gov, Presidential Advisory Commission on Ballot Integrity
Federal Judicial Commission, The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, press release
The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco will allow noncitizens to vote in a local ballot, creating a new clearing flashpoint
PolitiFact, No evidence 449,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in California
Snopes, Did 449,000 Californians Decline Jury Duty Considering They Are Undocumented Immigrants?
Associated Press, California DMV: Non-citizens may be registered to vote

The Associated Printing contributed to this report.

Thank you for supporting our journalism. Y'all tin subscribe to our impress edition, advert-gratis app or electronic paper replica here.

Our fact bank check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.