SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Republican lawmakers are looking to require voter ID in California – but not through the Legislature, where they hold a superminority and little influence to pass laws.

Reform California, the grassroots PAC run by Assembly member Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, is laying groundwork for a 2026 ballot measure to require voters to show identification in order to vote. It would also require elections officials to ensure voters are U.S. citizens when they register to vote.

It would be a sharp turn from the direction California’s Democratic-controlled legislature has taken. Last year it overwhelmingly passed a law prohibiting local governments from asking for identification to vote.

California requires voters to provide their driver’s license or state ID number and the last four digits of a social security number when registering to vote.

But in some cases – when people register online but don’t provide their driver license number – they are asked to show a form of ID before voting at the polls.

Acceptable forms of identification can include a utility bill, a credit card or a student ID, which Assembly member Bill Essayli, R-Corona, called “crap.”

“None of these are actual forms of ID. Try to get on an airplane with a utility bill and see how far you get,” he said to laughter during a packed meeting on the subject at the California Republican convention last weekend.

Essayli and DeMaio were speaking to delegates to ramp up support for the proposal before a signature drive even begins.

It takes more than 874,000 voter signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The group is aiming to collect around 1.2 million to have enough cushion.

DeMaio plans to submit the official initiative proposal later this summer, which would allow his campaign to begin collecting signatures in October. He said more than 110,000 people have already signed up to volunteer for the campaign.

The voter ID arguments

Many Democrats staunchly oppose efforts to require ID for voting, arguing it creates barriers that disproportionately affect poor, disabled and elderly voters.

“Healthy democracies rely on robust access to the polls,” U.S. Rep. Dave Min, who while a state Senator authored the 2024 voter ID ban, said in an analysis of the bill. “An overwhelming body of evidence proves that voter ID laws only subvert voter turnout and create barriers to law abiding voters.”

Republicans including President Donald Trump have claimed noncitizens and undocumented immigrants are voting in elections. Multiple studies have shown noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare – in over 20 years there have been fewer than 100 documented cases.

But there’s bipartisan support for voter ID requirements, according to a survey conducted by Washington, D.C.-based firm Public Opinion Strategies and released by Reform California last week.

It found 68% of likely California voters – including 52% of Democrats and 70% of independents – would support a requirement that voters show a government-issued ID in order to cast a ballot.

“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,” DeMaio said.

DeMaio said figures from both political parties are guilty of sowing doubt in election results over the past decade: Donald Trump and his closest allies continue to deny he lost the 2020 election, prompting the Jan. 6 Capitol storming by Trump supporters. In 2017 former Speaker Nancy Pelosi alleged Russia “hijacked” the 2016 election.

“I just want to end the debate,” the San Diego Republican said. “It’s not a healthy situation to have voters on both sides, depending upon the outcome, complaining about the integrity of the election.”

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