Voter ID appears headed for California’s November ballot. What you should know

SACRAMENTO – A proposed measure to require Californians to show identification every time they vote, and for election officials to verify that registered voters are US citizens, appears to have enough support to qualify for the November ballot.

Supporters say they have collected more than 1.3 million voter signatures on petitions supporting the ballot measure, far more than required under California law, and plan to submit them to county election officials Monday for verification.

The Republican-led push for a voter ID program comes at a time of growing mistrust in the integrity of the election process across the country, a wariness fueled by President Trump’s baseless allegations that the 2020 election was stolen from him and false claims that large numbers of undocumented immigrants are trying to vote illegally.

Proponents of voter ID argue that such laws prevent voter fraud and, along with proof of citizenship, prevent non-citizens from voting. Opponents say the ID mandate threatens the basic constitutional rights of undocumented Americans to be readily available, and that the restrictions are unnecessary given that non-citizen voting is rare and already banned in the US.

The partisan divide over whether voters must provide proof of US citizenship when registering to vote, one of Trump’s top priorities, continues to consume Washington. House Republicans passed the mandate in early February but the legislation – known as the SAVE Act – has moved to the Senate.

Democrats say that under the SAVE Act, many states’ driver’s licenses will not be sufficient documents to prove US citizenship, forcing people to produce a passport or birth certificate – which many voters do not have. According to a 2023 study by the Brennan Center for Justice and others, 9% of US senior citizens do not have proof of citizenship. The study found that 11% of senior citizens of color did not have easy access to such documents, compared to 8% of white American adults. They accused Republicans of trying to prevent millions of Americans from voting in the upcoming election to keep Congress under GOP control.

UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky said both the SAVE Act and the proposed ballot measure in California are not only unnecessary, but dangerous to democracy.

“Both are aimed at solving problems that don’t exist,” Chemerinsky said. “There’s no evidence of a non-citizen voting problem. And there’s no evidence of massive fraud when voters vote under false names. But both would limit who can vote. As for the SAVE law, many people don’t have a birth certificate or a passport.”

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), who supported and voted for the SAVE Act, said it’s an easy way to restore voter confidence in the polls. But he said the end of the bill seems to be bad.

“I don’t think they have the votes,” Calvert said Friday.

That’s why, Calvert says, California should join other states and enact commonsense voter ID and citizenship requirements that would attract bipartisan support. A longtime Republican congressman has said he does not believe there has been widespread voter fraud in the US, or that there has been a flood of non-voters going to the polls, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened to some degree and will affect the highly competitive local elections and congressional races.

“I’ve always said maybe a little bit of money, but it’s enough to change the outcome of the election, and it could change the numbers we have in Congress,” Calvert said.

California voting average

Petitions submitted to the California Voter ID Initiative will be reviewed by state election officials, who must ensure that the signatories are registered voters in the state and that supporters have collected at least the 874,641 valid signatures required to qualify for the November ballot.

The ballot measure would make significant changes to the way Californians vote, and create new mandates for state election officials. Among the top changes proposed:

• Every time a voter casts an in-person ballot in any election in California, they must present a government-issued ID.
• Californians who vote by mail will be required to write on the envelope the last four digits of a “unique identification number from a government-issued ID” – a pin number similar to the one people use at an ATM – that matches the one the voter chose when registering to vote.
• California’s secretary of state and county election officials will be required to verify that registered voters are US citizens “using government data,” which supporters say could include information from the state’s Social Security Administration database, judge information and other government records.
• The secretary of state and county election officials must maintain accurate voter registration lists.
• If requested, the state will be required to provide free voter identification cards to eligible voters for use during the election.

“We’re creating a legal obligation that in California, when we vote, we want our election officials to suspect that a person is a citizen,” said Assembly member Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), one of the major forces behind the proposed voting system. “That’s what we’re asking for. That’s why voters support this, because it’s not a burden on the voter. It’s really a burden on the election workers to do their job.”

Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio of San Diego speaks at a press conference in July to announce a campaign to require voter identification in California.

(Tran Nguyen / Associated Press)

But Jenny Farrell, executive director of the League of Women Voters of California, called the proposed ballot measure an effort by Trump and Republicans to make it more difficult for people in the state to vote — which they see as political gain. Californians who will suffer the most are “communities of color, people with disabilities, seniors, people who commute, people who have recently changed their names.”

“California’s elections are already secured. This move is not really about election integrity. It’s part of this broader national game plan from President Trump and the current federal administration to make voting difficult and create doubt in the minds of the public and sow real chaos on election day,” Farrell said. “This measure would create new and tougher barriers to eligible voters. It would unfairly flag natural-born citizens, and it would create new avenues to challenge the results.”

Non-citizens who vote in California are at risk of criminal charges and deportation, she said.

Farrell’s organization joined with the ACLU of Northern and Southern California, Common Cause, Disability Rights California and other groups to oppose the proposed measure.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that the new requirements under the proposed ballot measure could cost local governments “tens of millions of dollars to the low hundreds of millions of dollars” annually.

What is the law now in California?

Currently, 36 states require or require voters to provide identification when voting, and 10 states have strict laws requiring people to produce government-issued photo ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Under current law, Californians are not required to show or provide identification when voting in person or by mail. They are required to provide identification when they register to vote, and must swear under penalty of perjury, a felony, that they are eligible to vote and are a US citizen.

To register to vote, Californians must provide their driver’s license number or state ID card number and the last four digits of their Social Security number, along with other information. The state is required to verify information using appropriate databases, including state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety Administration records.

Along with a driver’s license, US passport or state ID card, acceptable identification can include photo identification cards issued by a school, credit card company, gym, insurance company, employer or community housing agency. Californians have the option of providing other documents, as long as they contain the person’s name and address, including: utility bills, bank statements, government checks, rental statements or government-issued bus passes.

First-time voters who did not present ID when registering to vote must present ID the first time they cast a ballot in a state election.

When ballots are sent by mail, election officials are required to verify the voter’s signature on the ballot book by comparing it to the signature on official voter registration records on file.