California Voter ID Ballot Initiative Announced for 2026 Ballot
Thirty-six states in the U.S. have implemented some form of voter identification requirement
By Katy Grimes, March 11, 2025 10:45 am
Assemblymen Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) and Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) announced Tuesday their intention to support the qualification of and passage of a Voter ID Initiative in California in the 2026 election.
A coalition of elected officials and campaign committees have also announced support, and released polling showing overwhelming bipartisan support for a Voter ID Initiative in California – with a super-majority of Republicans and Independents and a majority of even Democratic voters supporting the initiative.
National, regional or local polling always shows that a Voter ID requirement is popular with a majority of voters – as high as 8 in 10 voters, according to mainstream polling firm Gallup.
A poll conducted by Gallup in October 2024 found that 84% of Americans favor requiring all voters to provide photo identification at their polling place in order to vote. The poll also found that 83% of Americans favor requiring people who are registering to vote for the first time to provide proof of citizenship.
As voter ID is popular among voters, the new Voter ID ballot initiative coalition is strong and includes a number of federal, state and local elected officials along with a number of political advocacy groups.
The measure will be a state constitutional amendment that requires citizenship verification for all voter registrations and government-issued ID for casting a ballot in an election.
“There is a cancer growing in our democracy where too many people have lost confidence in our elections – and enacting a Voter ID law should be seen as the best bipartisan solution to this problem. The Democrat-controlled swamp removed me from the Assembly Elections Committee, so I am thrilled to take this common sense issue directly to the People,” says Bill Essayli, State Assemblymember (District 63) and Chairman of Common-Sense California.
“We’re dead serious,” Essayli added. “And we are modeling the initiative after Proposition 36.”
Listen to Assemblymen Essayli and DeMaio talk about the initiative.
“Thirty-six states in the U.S. have implemented some form of voter identification requirement. Similarly, every country in Europe mandates that in-person voters present photo ID to cast their ballots. This practice is also standard in Canada, Japan, South Korea, India, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, and many other nations worldwide, spanning both developed and developing democracies,” said Julie Luckey, Director of Californians for Voter ID. “Support for voter ID laws transcends party lines—it’s not a Republican or Democratic issue. Polls consistently show that majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents favor these measures. Nor is this unique to the United States; it’s a global norm. Voter ID is simply a common-sense policy. California needs to modernize its elections to align with the vast majority of the world’s democracies. While our state leads in so many areas, it lags behind on this issue. It’s time for California to catch up and enact voter ID laws.”
“Politicians and the media will keep denying the fact that California has real problems with election integrity, but the message from the public is loud and clear in support of requiring Voter ID as the best way to restore public trust and confidence in our elections,” said Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, State (District 75) and Chairman of Reform California.
“Voter ID is a common sense step that improves election security, which is why it receives broad support among Democrats, Republicans and independents throughout California. By passing a Voter ID initiative in California we can give voters increased confidence in our elections without unnecessarily restricting access to voting,” said Rep. Ken Calvert, US Representative (CA-41).”
“There is wide-spread support among the donor community for enacting common-sense election integrity reforms through the Voter ID Initiative and we look forward to helping get this important reform qualified and passed in 2026,” said Teresa Hernandez, Chairwoman, Orange County Lincoln Club.
Polling conducted by Public Opinion Strategies in late January for several coalition members showed 68% of voters support passage of a Voter ID law– drawing support of 93% of Republicans, 70% of Independents and 52% of Democratic voters.
To commit to sign the petition when it is ready for circulation, visit: www.VoterIDPetition.org.
To contribute visit www.CaliforniaVoterID.com.
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VOTER ID INITIATIVE
(“Trust not one iota and verify absolutely everything.”
Thank you to Carl DeMaio for taking the initiative (pun intended) to address election integrity in California. At least two House races were stolen in 2024. If we’re going to invest the time and money to qualify the initiative, let’s make sure it’s legal and effective.
Ronald Reagan said regarding negotiating a nuclear arms treaty with the Soviet Union, “Trust but verify.” When it comes to Democrats and election integrity, our motto should be, “Trust not one iota and verify absolutely everything.”
Criteria for drafting the initiative:
1. It must be legal. It must be Constitutional under the U.S. Constitution and comply with Federal law. The initiative should also be written to minimize the chances the Dem controlled California Supreme Court will remove the qualified initiative from the ballot as the Court did with HJTA’s tax initiative in 2024.
2. The initiative must be effective and enforceable.
3. The initiative needs to pass once qualified.
I am not an election law or election integrity expert, but such persons should be consulted in drafting the initiative.
Without limitation, I believe Federal law prohibits requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote. If the person being registered checks the citizen box, the state has to accept the registration. However, states can check existing registrations against Federal databases and remove noncitizens. The Biden Regime blocked access to those Federal databases. I expect the Trump administration will allow access.
Requiring government agencies to verify citizenship before offering people a voter registration card might be legal.
How will voter ID work with universal “cheat by mail” ballots? Some states require the last 4 digits of the driver’s license to be included with the mailed in ballot. That might work, but someone has to check each returned ballot or envelope with the DL numbers against the voter registration AND someone has to check the DL number on the voter registration against the DMV database. How will the initiative allow us to verify this is being done?
The ideal is a one day election, no vote by mail without a good reason, voter ID, with hand-counted paper ballots. But, voters may be reluctant to give up the convenience of “cheat by mail” ballots.
If the judgment is that getting rid of “cheat by mail” ballots is a bridge too far, perhaps getting rid of voting and vote counting machines is not.
Election integrity experts likely have good ideas to make the initiative legal and effective. Let’s not spend huge amounts of time and money on an election integrity initiative that is not legal and effective.