A voter ID petition in California has gained enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot, securing well over 875,000 signatures.
According to Reform California, the group leading the effort, the California Voter ID Initiative obtained 1.3 million signatures across all 58 counties.
Carl DeMaio, Reform California Chairman and State Assemblymaker, said in a statement that the effort a “common-sense and bipartisan way to restore the trust and confidence all voters should have in our election system.” He described the measure as holding officials accountable to “maintain accurate voter lists and verify the identity of individuals casting ballots in our elections.”
“Divisive politicians with partisan agendas will try to politicize this effort, but the fact remains 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 came from Democrats and Independents,” DeMaio said. “We look forward to expanding this bipartisan reform movement as we enter the passage phase of the campaign.”
According to a voter guide from the California Secretary of State, California “does not generally require voters to show identification at the polls.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has issued critical comments toward voter ID, specifically the SAVE Act, which requires nationwide proof of citizenship to vote. He claimed the bill “is not about voter ID,” but about “proving your citizenship.” Newsom asked, “Do you know where your birth certificate is? I lost that at seven.”
Newsom made similar remarks while speaking with Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), where he said, “You’ve got to find your birth certificate. If you know where yours is–I have no clue where mine is.”
YouTube journalist Nick Shirley recently released a video exposing voting irregularities in the state. In the 22-minute video, Shirley, accompanied by a whistleblower, revealed that numerous voters are registered at the same address, while others are listed as being well over 100 years old.
