SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Local governments in California will be excluded from enacting local laws that require residents to show identification to vote in elections under a new law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The legislation — from Sen. Dave Min, an Orange County Democrat who is running for Katie Porter’s seat in the Open House — is a direct response to a controversial ballot measure approved by voters in Huntington Beach this year that would see people required to show photo identification at the ballot box. . It will come into effect on January 1.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, California is one of 14 states that does not require a voter ID card in elections.
The Republican-led city, whose leaders are often at odds with Sacramento Democrats, has maintained that its status as a charter city gives it self-governance over election administration.
But Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber aren’t buying it: Officials sued Huntington Beach in April to invalidate the law, arguing it would hamper the state’s voting rights protections.
“The right to vote freely is the foundation of our democracy and Huntington Beach’s voter ID policy violates this principle,” Bonta said in an April statement about the lawsuit.
Min’s legislation is one of nearly a half-dozen bills introduced by Democratic state lawmakers in the past year to close legal gray areas in states’ election laws. The changes are intended to prevent Huntington Beach, Shasta County and other conservative local governments from implementing election policies often motivated by suspicions of voter fraud.
Legislation by Sen. Steve Bradford, signed Wednesday, clarifies registration procedures for secure election data and increases the secretary of state’s regulatory power over polls and other voting systems used in local elections.
Ultra-conservative local officials in Shasta County tried unsuccessfully to ditch election voting machines last year, citing unfounded concerns about voter fraud. Their arguments mimicked former President Donald Trump’s claims about voting machines after the 2020 presidential election.
