Democrats Kill Assemblyman DeMaio’s Voter ID Bill Claiming It Will ‘Restrict Voting Access’
‘If voter ID is racist, then all forms of ID are racist’
By Katy Grimes, April 9, 2025 2:17 pm
On the heels of a Superior Court Judge ruling Monday in favor of the Huntington Beach voter ID law, California Democrats in the Assembly Elections Committee just killed a statewide voter ID bill Wednesday morning by Assemblyman Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego). Democrats even dragged out the old “requiring Voter ID is racist” hyperbole.
According to the Orange County Register, the Judge said he disagreed with arguments it would disenfranchise voters in future elections. “There is no showing that a voter identification requirement compromises the integrity of a municipal election,” Orange County Superior Court Judge Nico Dourbetas wrote in his ruling.
California is not only one of 14 states that does not require ID when voting, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a statewide ban on voter ID in 2024, in response to the Huntington Beach Measure A, passed by local voters last spring.
“IT’S BULL****! CA Democrats just killed my Voter ID bill! Well, I’m not backing down — we’re taking it to the ballot box with a citizen’s initiative in 2026!” DeMaio posted to X.
In January, Assemblymen Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) and Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) announced their California Voter ID and Election Integrity Act of 2025, Assembly Bill 25, the Globe reported.
If enacted, the bill would require: Voter ID for in-person and mail-in ballots; citizenship verification and accurate maintenance of voter lists by each county; enhanced ballot signature review requirements; and imposing penalties on counties if they don’t finish counting their ballots within 72 hours of the election.
As for counting ballots within 72 hours of the election, DeMaio pointed out that this is something the rest of the United States and third world countries manage to accomplish.
“There is a cancer growing in our democracy where too many California voters do not trust in our elections. California voters will not have the confidence they deserve that we have fraud-free elections — until we enact this common sense voter ID law,” said Assemblyman DeMaio. “The California Voter ID and Election Integrity Act of 2025 will help restore the public confidence in elections.”
DeMaio said this isn’t a partisan bill, as Democrats and Republicans support voter ID requirements. “AB 25 would bring California in line with 25 other states voter ID requirements.”
DeMaio said there are 6 problems with California’s voting system California Voter ID and Election Integrity Act of 2025, AB 25, would specifically enact the following:
- Voter ID Requirement: Provide language requiring a government-issued ID to vote (Driver’s License) in person – and use of last 4 digits of Drivers License on Mail-in Ballots
- Accountability for Citizenship Verification: Provide language requiring a verification of citizenship before adding an individual to voter rolls – and verification of existing voter registrations. Verification cannot be a person’s own attestation – but must be proven by appropriate identification documentation to prove they are a US Citizen.
- Accountability for Maintaining Accurate Voter Lists: Provide language requiring the state auditor conduct a random sample of voter lists for a county to ensure at least 98% accuracy on the list – identifying any individuals that are not citizens, deceased, moved out of state, moved from address, etc as inaccuracies. Any county that fails to meet this standard may not automatically mail ballots to everyone on their voter list for that election cycle, but may provide mail-in ballots to individuals who request them.
- Accountability for Timely Counting of Ballots: Provide language suspending a county’s ability to automatically use mail ballots for the following election if they do not count all mail-in ballots within 72 hours of the election – not counting provisional ballots and ballots rejected due to signature mismatch. Counties that lose the ability for an all-mail in election shall still provide mail-in ballots to individuals that request them.
- Integrity of Signature Review Process: Provide language requiring the state auditor to audit using random sample the signature reviews of county election offices to ensure proper vetting of signatures occurs and to report findings of audit within 90 days of each election. For any county office that fails an audit of their signature reviews, that county Registrar of Voters shall submit a remediation plan to the Secretary of State for improvements.
Assemblyman DeMaio brought with him a lengthy report by the Transparency Foundation which featured an audit of California’s 2022 election showing voter fraud. The report found:
California’s politicians and the liberal media continue to blindly dismiss concerns raised by election integrity problems in the state. The media claims that there is no proof of voter fraud occurring – but refuses to perform even basic investigations and queries to find out. It is not difficult to analyze voting data to detect evidence of potential fraud. One simple way to detect potential fraud is to examine the rate of signatures rejected on ballots cast – and to further investigate voters who failed to “cure” their rejected signature. One would presume that a voter whose signature was rejected on their ballot would want to verify their identity to make sure their vote counted.
If they fail to do that, that attempted vote should be further scrutinized. That’s why our investigators pulled lists of “uncured” ballots where the voter failed to respond to attempts to get them to verify their signature. Our investigators spent months calling and texting these individuals.
14.17% of audited “uncured” ballots rejected for a missing or an invalid signature during the 2022 California November Election were likely fraudulently cast – as the voters for those ballots vehemently denied ever voting in the election.
DeMaio said polling shows that 52% of Democrats support voter ID; 68% of Californians overall support voter ID; 70% support citizenship verification; 56% of African Americans support voter ID; 70% of non-white Californians support voter ID, which shows that this is not a partisan or racial issue.
Colleen Britton with the Election Integrity Project California testified in support of AB 25. “75% to 80% across the nation support voter ID” Britton said. “All 49 other states and most countries get votes counted in one t0 three days – within 72 hours,” Britton said.
Opposition to AB 25 by a representative with the ACLU claimed voter ID “imposes burdens” and “creates racial disparities”, as well as “barriers” to voter ballots.
Dora Rose with the League of Women Voters was visibly angry, and directed her comments directly at DeMaio, accusing him of creating “bogus fraud squads” for wanting voter ID. She called the bill a “sweeping proposal to restrict voting access,” and claimed “millions of voters don’t have regular ID.” She called DeMaio’s proposal an “unconstitutional poll tax” and referenced a “sordid history of voter suppression” that requiring identification to vote creates.
Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) launched into a verbal attack against DeMaio over the report, demanding to know if it has a political slant. “Every 501 (c)(3) has a world view,” DeMaio said. “So they have a partisan slant?” Berman demanded, arguing with DeMaio. “I presented evidence of weaknesses in our election system,” DeMaio said. “The facts in the report, I am happy to address,” he told Berman, who was still arguing with DeMaio, and had to be cut off by Committee Chairwoman Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz).
Assemblyman David J. Tangipa (R-Fresno) addressed the “soft bigotry of low expectations” being bandied about during the hearing. “As a Polynesian, growing up impoverished,” Tangipa said it was offensive of those at the hearing to claim that minorities are too dumb to get ID. “If voter ID is racist, then all forms of ID are racist,” Tangipa said. “I grew up in that community – we are smart enough.”
“The bill weaponizes voter suppression,” said Assemblywoman Catherine Stefani (D-San Francisco). “The 72 hour deadline is rushing the process.”
DeMaio pushed back on Rose’s claim that the bill is “an unconstitutional poll tax,” noting that the United States Supreme Court has ruled many times that voter ID requirements are Constitutional. “Georgia just went to Voter ID and minority participation went up,” DeMaio said.
Chairwoman Pellerin said the bill would impose new barriers to voting participation, and is a “baseless attempt to erode Californians’ trust in elections.”
Then the committee voted and killed DeMaio’s AB 25.
“Sacramento Democrats just killed my Voter ID bill (AB25) — despite overwhelming public support and clear evidence our election system is broken! They failed to act, so now WE will. We’re launching a 2026 citizens’ initiative to force this issue on the 2026 ballot!” Assemblyman DeMaio posted to X following the hearing.
The Assembly Elections Committee bill analysis summarized AB 25:
Requires a person to provide documentation of citizenship when registering to vote. Requires a person to provide government-issued photo identification when voting in-person. Requires a voter to provide the last four digits of a government-issued identification number on a vote by mail (VBM) ballot envelope and requires the voter’s ballot to be disqualified if that information does not match information on the voter’s registration. Requires the State Auditor (Auditor) to audit specified decisions of county elections officials. Requires elections officials to count all ballots within 72 hours of an election, except as specified. Repeals a provision of law that prohibits local governments from enacting voter identification requirements that are not required by state or federal law.
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All of this Democrat shrieking and squawking is because the passage of these requirements would take a HUGE STEP TOWARDS ending their cheat-by-mail and ballot harvesting procedures that have tilted the electoral balance towards liberal Democrats for at least 25 years….
Now do “dominion” and address the security weaknesses that are on the security testing PDF that’s STILL on the California Secretary of State’s website that lists all of the security exploits that “dominion” provides, while conveniently explaining each of them away with empty platitudes… they’re not bugs, folks, they’re FEATURES….
CriticalDfence9, fyi, at the live broadcast of the Trump cabinet meeting today, Director of National Intelligence Gabbard announced that they are investigating the internal and external vulnerabilities of electronic voting systems and how they have impacted election integrity. We are on the way back to using paper ballots.
@CriticalDfence9. You and I have been harping on the Dominion problems seemingly ad nauseam on this forum for a long time. Now, finally, we are going to get some official confirmation showing that the whole thing is NOT some “conspiracy theory” invented by Trump MAGA people. The days of Dominion electronic voting in California are numbered. Good riddance to the Pellerin crowd and their platform for institutionalizing election fraud:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tulsi-gabbard-drops-two-huge-bombshells
As reported previously by the Globe, the committee chairwoman Pellerin is a person (the leader among others in her party) who wants to remove the use of paper ballots in California by banning hand counts. In other words, she wants to make California’s Dominion electronic voting system immune from a verifiable hand-count audit. She is a Santa Cruz radical leftist who would keep the DEMONcrat Party in as a permanent super majority by controlling the vote counting. A typical communist strategy to “win” elections.
https://californiaglobe.com/fr/bill-to-ban-ballot-hand-counts-passes-california-assembly/
The ruling class of California are out of step with American CITIZEN voters. A 2024 Gallup poll reveals 84% of citizens are in favor of voter id laws!
The far left which is the ruling democrat party are fascists who do not believe in fairness or just laws. Why? Because the only way they stay in power is by cheating the system they corrupted!
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4951106-voter-id-laws-poll/
Democrats killed it because they want to keep cheating. Hey, democrats, I have to provide ID every time I recycle bottles and cans. Guess what, the homeless people do, too. You don’t get cash, either. You get a check. Guess what, to cash the check you need ID. We need voter ID.
Even though Asm DeMaio’s Voter ID bill was killed in committee, it kinda looks like a positive, doesn’t it? It’s definitely a good thing that Asm Carl DeMaio made a huge stink about this issue in the legislature and before the public about what will now surely make it to the ballot.
That Asm DeMaio made a huge stink is a good thing because:
1) It shines an unflattering spotlight on many of the unreasonable legislative Democrats who are curiously upset and angrily spewing spittle against an issue that has broad majority support across all groups and parties, which could affect the politicians’ future electability;
2) this angry reaction of Dem legislators likely shows they want to protect election cheating;
3) it acts as a big advertisement for DeMaio’s potential fix for election cheating which will help to get the signatures required to get it on the ballot; and
4) it further educates voters about the piles of evidence already in existence that points, with a giant red arrow, to the problem of election cheating, which will further motivate voters to sign an initiative petition as well as vote on a Voter ID initiative that now has an excellent chance of making it to the ballot.
Yes! Great points ShowandTell!
He unmasked the bad actors. I think we can now safely say the League of Women Voters as a biased leftist group that will do and say anything to protect the status quo!
You said it, Cali Girl, the League of Women Voters is far-hard-leftist —- in a sort of passive-aggressive way — and not at all the benign, helpful group I used to think they were, if you can believe it. I wonder if most people start out thinking they are solid, pillars-of-the-community types until they find out otherwise? I once trolled an “affordable housing” meeting of theirs a long long time ago and saw it with my own eyes. Shocking 🙂
Yes, Show. I first thought they were an election integrity group that wanted to present argument and debate equally, boy was I wrong. I was invited many times to participate in our local chapter. I was assured by a volunteer they were non-partisan. I knew the volunteer herself was a hard leftist.
Thank you Assemblyman Carl DeMaio for trying to put forth a reasonable statewide voter ID bill, but most of us knew that the criminal Democrat thug mafia that controls the legislature would kill the bill. How else could they steal elections without voter fraud?
So Dora Rose with the League of Women Voters was visibly angry and personally attacked Assemblyman DeMaio bizarrely claiming that his bill was a unconstitutional poll tax? Maybe Dora’s unhinged anger and questionable behavior stems from a toxic brew of mostly male hormones flowing through Dora’s bloodstream? Dora Rose looks more manly than many men?
As for Democrat Assemblyman Marc Berman who launched into a verbal attack against Assemblyman DeMaio, he’s a bespectacled career Democrat and a lawyer with questionable ethics who would probably starve if taxpayers weren’t supporting him? Berman is a member of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus who didn’t issue a peep when pro-Hamas thugs stormed the State Capitol in Sacramento and shut down the Assembly session a few months ago. It’s odd that Berman hasn’t publicly condemned the many Antisemitic attacks that have occurred on California’s publicly funded UC and Cal State campuses? Instead Berman attacked Assemblyman DeMaio and his common sense voter ID bill? One wonders if Berman is an observant Jew who regularly attends a synagogue and reads the Torah, or maybe he’s one of those secular types who hides behind a Jewish identity? He might even be a member of the deep-state criminal Khazarian Mafia?
Democrat Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin ridiculously claimed that the bill would impose new barriers to voting participation, and she laughably said that it was a baseless attempt to erode Californians’ trust in elections? Pellerin authored the bill that banned manual hand count of ballots in elections with more than 1,000 voters which was signed into law by Gov. “Hair-gel Hitler” Newsom in 2023. Pellerin’s website has a picture of herself smiling smugly for the camera wearing a powder blue power suit accentuated with expensive pearls. She’s been a parasite on taxpayers for years having previously served as Santa Cruz County Clerk from 1993 until her resignation in 2020 before being installed into the 28th Assembly District–probably with Democrat voter fraud and rigged voting machines? Pellerin is also a member of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus who didn’t issue a peep when pro-Hamas thugs stormed the State Capitol in Sacramento and shut down the Assembly session a few months ago nor has she publicly condemned the many Antisemitic attacks that have occurred on California’s publicly funded UC and Cal State campuses. She must be one of those far-left secular types with ZERO ethics who hides behind a Jewish identity?
LOL
This is a good way to start working on our strategy for the 2026 election. Take an 80/20 item and put it on the ballot. The Democrats will out spend you 10 to 1 to oppose it at the same time they have at least half a dozen candidates for governor gobbling up election donations. Add in all the other state wide candidates and there shouldn’t be a
lot of money left for down ballot candidates on the left. There should be no excuses for not ending the super majority in Sacramento, unless it’s extremely poor leadership on our side.
Given the recent win in court for Huntington Beach in being able to keep this Voter ID law at least this isn’t a problem that the Democrats can just make go away. Hopefully the citizen’s initiative gets enough signatures to quality although no doubt our wacko AG will just re-title it the “Make Voting Harder” act or something like that.
This is ridiculous! ID is required for everything else of importance. We all know it’s just a way to keep cheating for the democrats. We Californians are sick of it. Still praying for a miracle here.
Cats, dogs and goldfish have difficulties getting ID. So do dead people and imaginary people.
They deserve a voice don’t they? Funny how they always vote Democrat. 😉
Hey Tulsi! Thank you for doing the Lord’s work on election fraud – now come to California if you need tons of evidence!!!
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tulsi-gabbard-drops-two-huge-bombshells
The CA SOS website has the PDF to Alex Padilla where the Colorado security testing firm (another hotbed of electroral shenanigans via “dominion” – see Tina Peters and that mouth-breather SOS Jena Griswold) called out the security exploits and then explained them all away with platitudes…
Texas was the only state with the brains and brass to tell them to take their “dominion” elsewhere…
The “fraudulently” elected California Democrats are losers in every sense of the word and they know it. They also know that their reign of terror on this once great State will be over once voter I.D. is required. It’s an insult to all the people they claim to be protecting, to suggest they are incapable of casting a legal vote and show I.D. We all know it has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with a weak party that knows they can no longer win an election on a fair and legal playing field.
@Donna, This sums it nicely.
Just look at how ferociously the democrat party fights paper ballots and voter-ID. It PROVES how necessary those things are for honest and legitimate elections, by cutting off their methods of cheating.
If the Democrats are riled up about Voter ID, and having elections counted in a reasonable amount of time, then you know it is the right thing to do.
We need more Republicans like DeMaio that have the guts to introduce bills like this. All elected Republicans need to start putting up a fight, instead of hiding in the shadows.
Bravo to Carl DeMaio for crafting a well written, common sense piece of legislation! The fact that the CA dimmicrats on the committee refused to even allow a floor vote says enough about the value of ensuing voter integrity. I will support Mr DeMaio’s efforts to get this on the state ballot for 2026 where I expect it will pass as did the recent Wisconsin initiative. Also kudos to Katy Grimes for her great reporting as usual. She is excellent!
Gee, remember this, folks? A little blast from the past. Reads differently now that a few years (seven years) have gone by, doesn’t it. Meaning it’s more obvious than ever this $300 MILLION Venezuelan monkey wrench thrown into the mix was a set-up, with the players just saying their lines on cue. Who can even figure out what Registrar Dean Logan said. Mumbo jumbo. And oh, yeah, it was all a response to the primary “glitches,” right? Glitches on purpose? Well, it was all good for them because “if you have L.A. County, you have California,” as they say.
“Pricey voting system approved by L.A. County Board of Supervisors” – June 12, 2018
https://abc7.com/voting-system-new-la-los-angeles/3595736/
Not only should a government issued id, a birth certificate and social security card be required to vote (and cross checked by the databases as those can be high quality fakes to flash at registrar employees), but the use of E-Verify should also be required.
More than six people registered to a single address needs to be investigated for fraud, and registrations claiming residency (living in) laundramats, gas stations, vacant lots, PO boxes, mail service and remailing services and anything other than a legitimate residence (800 registrations in a ten space trailer park is suspect and should be investigated) to be invalidated. This can all easily be done with both official and readily available research tools.