California Voters Deserve Elections They Can Trust, and Verify 

Californians deserve to be confident in the results of their local, county, and state elections. Voter identification and citizenship verification requirements are the only way to ensure we can believe the results of our elections, short of livestreaming ballot counts or putting AirTags in the envelopes we mail in. Government-issued identification for in-person voting and additional identity verification for ballots cast by mail is good policy, although some disagree.

There will be plenty of debate in the months ahead, but the basic question is simple: Should voters verify who they are before their vote is counted?

Verification is a reasonable principle for any institution that depends on public trust. I learned that during more than a decade serving in the U.S. Navy, including more than 30 combat missions as a fighter pilot. You trust the aircraft. You trust the intelligence. You trust the mission. But, you verify.

You run the checklist, confirm the coordinates, and check the systems. These checks are not completed because you assume something is wrong, but because what you’re doing matters too much to simply assume everything is right. Trust is strongest when it is backed by verification.

Processes and safeguards help—they don’t hurt. This is not a claim that every election is riddled with fraud, because voter ID and citizenship checks aren’t currently required in our state. But, we also shouldn’t treat every proposal for additional verification as an attack on voting rights. We should be able to have a serious discussion about what safeguards make sense.

We are asked to verify who we are all the time in everyday life. We show our ID to start a new job, rent a car, and sometimes even just to pick up a package. The purpose isn’t to exclude qualified people from participating; it’s to establish that the person participating is, in fact, the person entitled to do so. Voting should be accessible, but verification should be accessible too.

A well-designed voter identification policy should account for eligible citizens who don’t currently possess the necessary identification. States can provide free identification, accept multiple forms of ID, establish procedures for voters whose identification is lost or unavailable, and provide a meaningful process for resolving discrepancies.

And then there’s public confidence. Election officials telling us that ballots were accurately counted is not enough. American citizens need confidence in the security of the election process that produced the result, regardless of which party wins the election.

If a Republican wins, Democrats should be able to trust the result. If a Democrat wins, Republicans should be able to do the same. Every voter should be able to understand the safeguards that establish that the people participating in an election are legally entitled to participate. That’s not partisan. It’s institutional.

California shouldn’t have to choose between an election system that makes voting easy for eligible citizens versus clear, transparent safeguards around who participates. We should be able to have both. And only when we have both will Californians feel confident in the elections that lie ahead.

Trust and verification are not opposites. Verification is what makes trust possible.