California rejects ballot measure requiring voter ID

A California ballot measure that would require registered voters to prove they are U.S. citizens is projected to fail, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).

Proposition 39 would have also required that all Californians who choose to cast their ballots by mail provide the last four digits of a government-issued ID, like a driver’s license number. Any in-person voting without an ID would have been prohibited.

Nearly 60 percent of voters ruled against the measure, DDHQ data shows. Just 41 percent were in favor.

The Golden State requires adults who are eligible to vote to provide an identification card and their Social Security number to register to vote.

Conservative groups like Reform California backed Proposition 39, arguing that it would increase public trust and ensure all votes are counted. The California Republican Party compared the measure to using ID to “fly, buy alcohol, cash checks, claim prizes, enter secure buildings, and prove who [you] are.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, one of several civil rights organizations against Proposition 39, warned that providing the last four digits of a government ID outside the mail ballot envelope would have it pass “through many hands and then sit in election records for almost two years, creating real exposure for identity theft for millions of voters.”

The Sacramento Bee pushed back against the Republican state lawmakers behind the ballot measure, calling the proposition “bad policy.”

“California doesn’t have a voter fraud crisis,” the Bee’s editorial board wrote. “It has a trust crisis, fueled by national politicians — most notably Trump — who lost elections and invented conspiracies to explain it.”

Republicans in the California State Assembly tried to pass a bill last year similar to Proposition 39. Co-authored by State Assembly member Carl DeMaio (R), the bill failed to pass the Committee on Elections in April 2025.