CA Voter ID Initiative Officially Qualifies for November 2026 Ballot

The greatest news for a Friday is out: The California Voter ID Initiative has officially qualified for the November 2026 ballot! Now comes the real battle—winning at the ballot box, says Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, who has sponsored and led this proposed initiative, along with his Reform California.

In March 2025, we reported:

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.

Assemblyman Essayli is now the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.

Here is Assemblyman DeMaio’s message:

The California Voter ID Initiative has officially qualified for the November 2026 ballot — ‍‍with state election officials certifying today that over 1 million valid signatures were submitted by proponents of the measure.

The measure amends the California Constitution to require Voter ID when casting a ballot, require election officials to verify the citizenship of registered voters, and maintain accurate voter rolls.

Reform California Chairman and CA State Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, the co-author of the CA Voter ID Initiative, issued the following statement in response to news that the measure has qualified:

“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.

Our measure simply holds government officials accountable to maintain accurate voter lists and verify the identity of individuals casting ballots in our elections. Other states that have implemented Voter ID programs have seen an increase in participation in their elections, including an increase in minority voting.

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 Democrat voters, support the initiative, and nearly half of the 1.35 million signatures we collected to put this common-sense reform on the ballot came from Democrats and Independents.

We look forward to expanding this bipartisan reform movement as we enter the passage phase of the campaign.”

Most Californians look forward to this reform movement as well.

Self-declared “voter rights” groups claim  voter ID requirements make it harder for married women to vote, because getting new ID after marriage is just too difficult for newly married women. This hogwash has been refuted by most married women.

“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.”

That time is finally here.