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It looks like California voters in 2026 will get the chance to decide whether voter identification should be required at the ballot box, signaling a marked political shift in a state that has long struggled under the brunt of hard-left Democrat leadership.
According to Reform California, the critical voter ID initiative reached over one million signatures after 90 days – surpassing the required number of signatures needed to qualify to appear on the 2026 midterm ballot.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the overwhelming and broad-based support for the CA Voter ID initiative – and by submitting 1.2 million signatures we are confident this initiative will qualify for the November 2026 midterm ballot,” stated California Republican State Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, leader of Reform California.
The organization is a statewide grassroots political organization that seeks to “counterbalance” the “extreme and misguided politics that are costing taxpayers and hurting working families in our state.”
Voter ID has become a popular item with proponents of election integrity, particularly in California, where there is a high population of illegal residents.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for example, has cracked down hard on cases of potential noncitizens who voted in both the 2020 and 2022 election cycles. These types of situations have cast doubt upon the security of voting systems in the U.S.
And in California, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has added fuel to the political fire by outright banning voter ID at the ballot box in 2025.
President Donald Trump has referred to California’s voting system as “rigged” and further criticized the state’s vote-by-mail platform, which Gov. Newsom made mandatory in 2021 when he signed AB 37.
On the federal level, Republicans are facing mounting pressure to pass the SAVE Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to cast a ballot in federal elections.
As reported by RSBN, the bill has been stuck in the U.S. Senate, despite being passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.
