Assembly Bill 25 would have required Californians to show documented proof of citizenship, like a passport or birth certificate, in order to register to vote. It also would have made voters show a government-issued ID at polling places and list the last four digits of a government ID number on a vote by mail ballot.
“We lack proper review of citizenship eligibility when registering individuals to vote,” said Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio who authored the bill.
In addition, the bill would’ve made election officials count a vast majority of ballots within 72 hours of election day and tasked the State Auditor with reviewing certain decisions in county elections offices.
“Let’s show all Californians that this is not a partisan issue, that we want to restore public trust and confidence,” DeMaio said as he presented the bill in the Assembly Elections Committee. “The way to do that is by implementing a voter ID requirement for our state.”
DeMaio and other proponents say voter ID is needed as an extra security measure in elections and that the state doesn’t do enough to validate citizenship at the time of registration.
But the bill failed in the Assembly Elections Committee on a party line vote with Democrats opposing.
Democratic Assemblymember Gail Pellerin chairs the Assembly Elections Committee and is a former elections official. During the hearing, she emphasized the lack of evidence for widespread voter fraud in California.
“The most important thing that public officials can do to build confidence in elections is to stop lying to the public to make them think that voter fraud is rampant,” Pellerin said.
Others in opposition to the measure said it’s a solution in search of a problem and that the policy would disenfranchise voters who don’t have ready access to citizenship documents.
“Americans have fought long and hard to overcome our sordid history of voter suppression,” said Dora Rosa, who represents the League of Women Voters. “We can not go backwards and we should not, we must not build policy on a bed of lies.”
State law in California currently requires those who have a state-issued ID number and a social security number to provide them at the time of voter registration. Those without this information are required to present identification when they go to vote in their first federal election. All who register to vote in California attest to eligibility under penalty of perjury.
At a press conference following the bill hearing, DeMaio vowed to bring the bill to the Assembly floor for a vote, though it’s unclear whether he will have a procedural path for doing so in a chamber with a Democratic supermajority.
DeMaio is also shifting his efforts to a citizen’s initiative he hopes will qualify for the 2026 ballot. The measure would amend California’s constitution to require voter ID statewide.