Fact Check: Did California register hundreds of thousands of noncitizens to vote?
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Several reports online claim that California registered hundreds of thousands of noncitizens to vote ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
This comes as federal officials and election authorities continue to debate noncitizen voting and voter-roll checks. Recent reports have also highlighted new federal efforts to investigate alleged noncitizen voting ahead of the November elections. Let's fact-check the claim.
Claim: California registered hundreds of thousands of noncitizens to vote
This is how OUT OF CONTROL California is.
— John John (@JohoFKindly1) September 3, 2026
449,000 REGISTERED VOTERS couldn't perform jury duty because they weren't citizens.
But they are REGISTERED VOTERS!
A half a million of them.
ABSOLUTELY NO federal aid without Voter ID.
While noncitizens cannot vote in US federal elections, online posts claiming that California allowed hundreds of thousands of noncitizens to register to vote have resurfaced ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The figure refers to the number of people who were disqualified from serving as jurors because they were not US citizens.
A September 3, 2026, post on X claimed, "This is how OUT OF CONTROL California is. 449,000 REGISTERED VOTERS couldn't perform jury duty because they weren't citizens. But they are REGISTERED VOTERS! A half a million of them."
The claim has circulated for months on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
In July, US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent a letter to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, claiming that a preliminary review found 190,832 noncitizens registered to vote in the state.
Weber disputed the reliability of the data and said she had "serious doubts" about the findings. Her office also said it had not provided DHS with a voter registration list because state law restricts the sharing of sensitive voter information.
Fact Check: False, no evidence to support claim
The claims are false. No evidence supports that noncitizens in California were registered to vote based on the 449,000 figure.
Courts can send jury summonses to state residents who have a driver's license, and people can legally obtain a California driver's license without being US citizens.
The posts also do not say when the 449,000 people were disqualified from jury service.
The same figure has circulated online since at least 2018, and previous fact-checks found that it did not show widespread voter fraud in California.
The figure appears to come from a 2016-17 report by the Judicial Council of California. The report showed that 449,404 of 1,096,478 people who were disqualified from jury service were removed because of their citizenship status.
However, courts do not select potential jurors only from voter registration lists. Karen Datangel, a public affairs officer for the Judicial Council of California, said courts also use Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and state tax filer lists.
The DMV list can include noncitizens because California allows undocumented residents who meet other licensing requirements to obtain driver's licenses. This means being called for jury service or appearing on a jury list does not show that someone is registered to vote.
The California Secretary of State's office says officials regularly update voter rolls and cross-check registration information with state and federal agencies. It also says, "Each voter must attest to the truthfulness of registration information under penalty of perjury."
