California voter ID petition set to be officially submitted after netting 1.3M signatures: ‘Common sense’

A California voter ID ballot measure that has gained over 1.3 million signatures is set to be submitted in all 58 counties this week, triggering five statewide rallies to promote the initiative.

“The California Voter ID Initiative is a common-sense and bipartisan way to restore the trust and confidence all voters should have in our election system,” Carl DeMaio, a Republican California State Assemblymember, told The Californian Post.

The initiative aims to “verify the identity of individuals casting ballots in our elections,” claiming it would address any concerns about voter fraud.

More than 80% of votes cast in the 2024 election in California were mailed in — compared to about 29% nationwide.

“Other states that have implemented Voter ID programs have seen an increase in participation in their elections, including an increase in minority voting,” said DeMaio, who is leading the ballot measure and signature drive through Reform California, after the bill failed in Sacramento.

If approved by voters in November, the measure would amend the California Constitution to require photo identification to cast a ballot in every election. It would also require state election officials to verify the citizenship status of registered voters and maintain accurate voter rolls.

California is one of only 14 US states that do not require voter ID.

“Divisive politicians with partisan agendas will try to politicize this effort, but the fact remains that over 70 percent of voters, including a majority of Democratic voters, support the initiative. Nearly half of the 1.35 million signatures we collected came from Democrats and Independents,” he said.

Opponents of the measure argue that it would impose sweeping new restrictions on how every Californian casts their ballot and harm communities.

“This voter ID measure is not about protecting voters; it is about importing the current federal administration’s election lies and intimidation tactics into California,” said Jenny Farrell, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of California.

“It would expose voters’ sensitive personal information, create new ways to reject eligible ballots, and wrongly target voters through error-prone citizenship checks.”