A measure to require voter ID is moving ever closer to getting on the November 3 general election ballot in California.
The ballot measure received about 1.35 million signatures in the Golden State; people collected over 800,000 signatures more than what was required. It will now go to the state secretary of state to verify the signatures later this week.
The ballot measure would require voters to show several forms of identification. Citizens seeking to vote by mail would have to write the last four digits of their identification number from a form of identification of choice on the ballot to be counted.
Advocates of the ballot measure believes the proposal has gained bipartisan support.
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Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) said during a press conference on Wednesday, “Voter ID is one of those rare opportunities, one of those rare issues, where Democrats, Republicans and everyone in between all agree. There are a lot of concerning discrepancies in our election practices.”
The bipartisan ballot measure would require California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and county election officials to verify voter registration. California law does not require voters to provide identity at the polls.
State Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach) said, “All this does is it says that you need to be a U.S. citizen in order to register to vote and that you need to show a form of ID. This is very simplistic. Thirty-six states have it. Every state that has implemented this has actually had higher voter participation.”
The Center Square reported:
According to the organization Californians for Voter ID, there is widespread support for voter identification measures in the state. A poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies in January 2025 shows that 68% of Californians support voter identification requirements, and 51% said they strongly supported such measures.
Despite the data that shows deep public support for instituting voter identification requirements, some oppose the measure, telling The Center Square on Tuesday they anticipate such restrictions could unfairly disadvantage voters of color.
“We know it’s not about election integrity. It’s about voter suppression,” Brittany Stonesifer, senior program manager at Common Cause California, said.
“The number of people who don’t have current ID goes significantly up for voters of color,” she continued. “The studies consistently show that states with strict voter ID requirements have much lower turnout, and the gap between white voters and non-white voters goes up significantly.”
Assemblymember Leticia Castillo (R-Corona) said, “When people begin to question the integrity of our elections, trust in the government starts to erode. That’s exactly why we need voter ID in California.”
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