![\"<span>A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/afp_factcheck_us_713\/fc7866e17d31cae45ef9c4f108f1e7a7.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
A screenshot of an X post taken on September 9, 2026<\/p>\n
The claim has\u00a0 spread<\/a> for months across platforms, including on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a> and Threads<\/a>. It also appeared on\u00a0 TikTok in Spanish<\/a>.<\/p>\n False accusations of widespread noncitizen voting have\u00a0 circulated<\/a> for years — including in a widely questioned<\/a> US Census Bureau report that Donald Trump’s administration released in August, and during a controversial White House speech<\/a> the US president delivered in July.<\/p>\n US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin also sent California Secretary of State Shirley Weber a letter<\/a> in July claiming a preliminary review had found 190,832 noncitizens registered to vote in the state (archived\u00a0 here<\/a>).<\/p>\n But Weber responded that she had “serious doubts” about the reliability of that data. Her office had not given a voter registration list to DHS, citing state law<\/a> prohibiting the sharing<\/a> of voters’ sensitive information (archived here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Noncitizen voting in federal elections is illegal<\/a>, and audits and independent research have shown<\/a> it to be exceedingly rare<\/a>\u00a0(archived\u00a0 here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0 here<\/a>).<\/p>\n And there is no evidence that noncitizens disqualified from jury duty were also registered to vote.<\/p>\n Jury rolls<\/p>\n The posts do not specify the year when the 449,000 disqualified jurors were identified. The same figure has circulated online since at least\u00a0 2018<\/a>, with fact-checking organizations<\/a> previously finding that it was not evidence of fraud impacting California’s voter rolls.<\/p>\n AFP sought records detailing the number of disqualified jurors from the Judicial Council of California, but the request was still pending at the time of publication.<\/p>\n PolitiFact reported<\/a>\u00a0that the closest number to the figure appeared in a fiscal year 2016-17 report from the Council that showed 449,404 out of a total 1,096,478 disqualified jurors had been eliminated due to their citizenship status.<\/p>\n But courts do not send jury summonses solely to registered voters.<\/p>\n “In addition to voter registration lists, courts also use Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and state tax filer lists to select potential jurors,” Karen Datangel, a public affairs officer for the Judicial Council of California, told AFP in a September 9, 2026 email.<\/p>\n The DMV list can include noncitizens because former governor Jerry Brown signed a law<\/a> allowing undocumented residents who meet all other licensing requirements to be issued driver’s licenses (archived here<\/a>). More than 1 million people<\/a> have obtained the special license since the law went into effect in 2015.<\/p>\n Noncitizens also pay taxes<\/a> in California, potentially placing them on the state tax filer list (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n Additionally, some California jurisdictions<\/a> have passed measures<\/a> to allow noncitizens to vote for local school boards. Such voters remain ineligible to cast ballots for federal races.<\/p>\n Safeguards<\/p>\n The California Secretary of State’s office\u00a0 says<\/a> voter rolls are continuously updated with registration data “crosschecked with both state and federal agencies” (archived\u00a0 here<\/a>).<\/p>\n “Each voter must attest to the truthfulness of registration information under penalty of perjury,” it says.<\/p>\n AFP contacted California’s Elections Division for more information, but a response was not forthcoming.\u00a0<\/p>\n On August 28, 2026, a Honduran national living in the San Fernando Valley was arrested<\/a> on a federal criminal complaint charging him with fraudulent voter registration (archived\u00a0 here<\/a>). The complaint said he had not actually voted.<\/p>\n “The law is working as it’s supposed to,” Pamela Smith<\/a>, president and CEO of the nonpartisan election group Verified Voter, told AFP on September 2 (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n She said the “severe penalties” — including felony charges if a noncitizen actually votes — dissuade ineligible people from registering.<\/p>\n “That’s not worth the risk for somone who does not have citizenship,” she said.<\/p>\n The conservative Heritage Foundation tracks\u00a0 election fraud<\/a> and has recorded just 40 criminal convictions in California for filing false registrations since 1982.<\/p>\n It cites only two cases of noncitizens convicted for\u00a0 voting<\/a> in the state in the same time period, with one being a Mexican man<\/a> who voted for Trump (archived\u00a0 here<\/a> and here<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n AFP<\/a> has previously debunked<\/a> several additional<\/a> claims alleging<\/a> voter fraud<\/a> in California.<\/p>\n