California won't register to vote those in US illegally

The Associated Press Updated 12:33 pm, Friday, March 2, 2018

Immigrants living in the U.S. illegally will not automatically be registered to vote in California come April, despite online stories claiming that's the case.

At issue is a California law taking effect in April that will automatically register people to vote when they get a driver's license, an ID card, or update their address with the Department of Motor Vehicles. California allows immigrants living in the country illegally to obtain drivers licenses, leading some websites to falsely claim they'll be automatically signed up to vote.

California's new program has safeguards to ensure only U.S. citizens can go through the voter registration process. A DMV worker processing a drivers' license application for an undocumented immigrant, for example, will not be able to access the voter registration boxes, which will be greyed out.

"To be eligible, you have to be a U.S. citizen," said Jessica Gonzalez, a DMV spokeswoman.

This is part of The Associated Press' ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.

Illegal immigrants in Calif. won't be automatically registered...