California Governor Signs Law to Ban Local Voter ID Requirements
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill into law on Thursday that bars local governments from enacting laws to require residents to show a valid form of identification in order to vote.
The law is a direct response to a ballot initiative approved by voters in the coastal California city of Huntington Beach. In March, 53.4% of residents voted to adopt a ballot measure that requires all residents who want to cast a ballot in municipal elections to show a valid ID. But the measure runs afoul of state law and, after it passed, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) and Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D) sued the city to block officials from enforcing it.
“The right to freely cast your vote is the foundation of our democracy and Huntington Beach’s voter ID policy flies in the face of this principle,” Bonta said in a statement at the time the lawsuit was filed. “State election law already contains robust voter ID requirements with strong protections to prevent voter fraud, while ensuring that every eligible voter can cast their ballot without hardship. Imposing unnecessary obstacles to voter participation disproportionately burdens low-income voters, voters of color, young or elderly voters, and people with disabilities.”
As that lawsuit went through the courts, the California Assembly passed a bill in August that was introduced earlier in the year by state Sen. David Min (D) to ban local governments like Huntington Beach from imposing voter identification requirements in municipal elections.
“We cannot have 100 different charter cities making up 100 different sets of voting rules, based on fringe conspiracy theories,” Min said in August, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I have repeatedly told the Huntington Beach City Council members pushing this issue that if they were to produce any evidence of widespread voter fraud, I would lead efforts to change California’s voter eligibility rules.”
Though California’s new law is now in effect, Huntington Beach has yet to respond to the lawsuit filed by Bonta and Weber in April.