California Admits It Doesn’t Track Noncitizens On Voter Rolls

For years, Americans have been told that concerns about noncitizens voting are a myth, a right-wing talking point unworthy of serious attention. California’s own secretary of state and attorney general have proven otherwise, however, not by admitting the state has no idea whether, or how often, it’s even happening, but by indicating the state isn’t bothering to track it.

A few weeks ago, the ACLJ submitted two California Public Records Act (CPRA) requests — one to the California secretary of state and one to Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office — seeking records on how the state maintains the integrity of its voter rolls. The Attorney General’s Office took an extension, ultimately responding on Aug. 10.

The Secretary of State’s Office responded first, but refused to provide any records responsive to our request. According to its answer, the statewide voter registration system simply “does not contain” a specific cancellation reason for non-citizenship. In other words, the state cannot tell us how many noncitizens have ever been removed from its voter rolls — because it doesn’t keep that information at all.

Below is a summary of our records requests to the secretary of state, and how California responded to each: First, we asked for the number of voter registrations that were canceled because the registrant didn’t meet citizenship requirements. California said its system “does not contain a voter status reason for cancellation due to non-citizenship.”