A California bill that would ban local governments from requiring voter identification in their elections passed the state assembly, and now awaits the governor’s approval or veto.
The measure would ban local governments such as Huntington Beach—where voters recently gave the City Council the go-ahead to impose such a requirement—from enacting voter ID laws and makes clear the state has exclusive jurisdiction when it comes to the voter verification process.
Senate Bill 1174, authored by Sen. Dave Min, passed the Assembly in a 57 to 16 vote on Aug. 27.
“I have repeatedly told the Huntington Beach City Council members pushing this issue that if they were to produce any evidence of widespread voter fraud, I would lead efforts to change California’s voter eligibility rules. They have not produced any such evidence,” the Irvine Democrat said in an Aug. 30 press release following the Assembly vote.
In May the Senate approved the bill 30-8.
Min said his bill would protect against a “patchwork of varying election requirements” throughout the state, blocking all cities from requiring voters to present a government-issued identification to vote. The ban would include charter cities, which have more authority than general-law cities over such things as regulating local police and elections.
“We