Unpacking California bill that would allegedly allow undocumented immigrants to count election ballots

In late May 2025, a rumor spread online that California passed a law allowing undocumented immigrants to count ballots in its elections.

The claim appeared to originate with state Republican Assembly Member Carl DeMaio, who posted a clip on X denouncing the purported bill.

“BREAKING: CA Democrats just passed AB 930 to allow illegal immigrants to COUNT BALLOTS in our elections!” the May 23 post read.

BREAKING: CA Democrats just passed AB 930 to allow illegal immigrants to COUNT BALLOTS in our elections! And will require counting of ballots received SEVEN days after the election! Spread the word and help me defeat AB 930! https://t.co/YDeGOarvur

— Carl DeMaio (@carldemaio) May 23, 2025

Others spread similar messages, some of which included the clip of DeMaio, on X and Facebook; many of these posts claimed California just “legalized” allowing undocumented immigrants to count ballots.

AB 930 is a legitimate bill meant to modernize California’s election processes and clarify existing law, sponsored by Democratic Assembly Member Christopher Ward. It is not yet law. One of its provisions “repeals requirements that the members of a recount board must be voters,” per a May 1 analysis of the bill’s text available for download on the California Legislature’s website. The bill would apply to ballot recounts in the state for any election.

The California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, a nonpartisan group of the state’s county officials — and a supporter of AB 930 — says that state law already prohibits nonvoters from counting ballots, meaning AB 930 would not allow undocumented immigrants to count ballots.

DeMaio’s argument rests on a 2019 law that allows undocumented immigrants to sit on certain boards and commissions. However, both the bill sponsor and the election officials’ association say that 2019 law does not apply in this case.

According to the association, California election law already prohibits nonvoters from counting ballots, meaning AB 930 does not allow undocumented immigrants to tally ballots. It is likely that the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials are correct — but some ambiguity in the law‘s wording prevents us from providing a definitive truthfulness rating on this story.

AB 930 has also only passed one of California’s two legislative chambers as of this writing; it must pass both and be signed by the state’s governor to become law.

Here’s our breakdown of what we know about AB 930.

Why are people claiming AB 930 allows undocumented immigrants to count ballots?

The key language in dispute is the bill’s amendment of the election code to read “individuals” instead “voters of the county,” the language used in state law as of this writing. A spokesperson for DeMaio, Dylan Martin, pointed to this change in an emailed statement as supposed evidence that the legislation allows undocumented immigrants to sit on a recount board, a group of people who oversee an election ballot recount. California law allows any voter to ask the state for a recount.

Here is the relevant text from the legislation, under Section 6 (emphasis ours):

DeMaio’s claim

DeMaio’s office claimed a separate law California passed in 2019, Senate Bill 225, allows undocumented immigrants to sit on recount boards because it permits undocumented immigrants to hold “appointed civil office” to ensure diverse perspectives on local boards and commissions.

“They are not employees. This relates to members of the BOARD that oversees the counting. They are appointees,” Martin wrote. He pointed to the following section of SB 225 (emphasis ours):

(b) Notwithstanding any other law, a person, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, is eligible to hold an appointed civil office if the person is 18 years of age and a resident of the state.

(c) Notwithstanding any other law, a person appointed to civil office, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, may receive any form of compensation that the person is not otherwise prohibited from receiving pursuant to federal law, including, but not limited to, any stipend, grant, or reimbursement of personal expenses that is associated with carrying out the duties of that office.

As elections officials appoint individuals to the recount boards, Martin argued, the special recount board members count as an “appointed civil office,” and as long as they do not receive employee compensation — wages, in other words — they can sit on a recount board per AB 930 and federal law.

However, according to Reyes, from the bill sponsor’s office, SB 225 does not apply to “temporary, non-civil service assignments like recount boards, which are governed by a separate set of election-specific statutes.”

The ‘election-specific statute’ 

Instead, the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, as well as Ward’s office, argue that a “special recount board” would fall under California Elections Code 12302, which prohibits nonvoters from tallying votes for a “precinct board” (emphasis ours):

(c)(2) A nonvoter appointed to a precinct board pursuant to this subdivision shall not be permitted to do either of the following:

(A) Serve as, or perform any of the duties of, the inspector of a precinct board.

(B) Tally votes for the precinct board.

A “special recount board” as described in AB 930 likely falls under the definition of a “precinct board” per California law (emphasis ours):

(a) “Precinct board” is the board appointed by the elections official to serve at a single precinct or a consolidated precinct. In an election conducted using vote centers, “precinct board” means the board appointed by the elections official to serve at a vote center.

(b) “Precinct board,” when used in relation to proceedings taking place after the polls have closed, likewise includes any substitutive canvassing and counting board that may have been appointed to take the place of the board theretofore serving. 

As a special recount board takes place after the polls have closed and is a “counting board,” it probably counts as a precinct board. But Ethan Jones, chief consultant for the California State Assembly Committee on Elections, said in an email that while there’s a “colorable argument” that the restrictions for a precinct board apply to a special recount board, he “wouldn’t say that’s a slam dunk.”

“It’s somewhat ambiguous whether the restrictions on precinct boards would apply to recount boards, or whether a recount board would be considered a precinct board under the law,” Jones said. A search for “special recount board” within the “definitions” section of California’s Elections Code returned no results, meaning the state law does not explicitly specify that a special recount board is a precinct board.

To summarize, should AB 930 pass, it is likely that it would not permit undocumented immigrants to tally votes in any capacity due to federal employment restrictions and preexisting state law. However, there is a small chance that ambiguity in the existing law may in theory allow California’s undocumented immigrants to sit on a special recount board, which convenes when a voter requests a ballot recount.

Sources