With Election Day approaching on Nov. 3, California Republicans are intensifying efforts to build support for Proposition (Prop) 39, portraying the voter identification measure as a way to strengthen election security and public confidence.
Democratic leaders and voting rights advocates are mounting a countercampaign, arguing that the proposal would create unnecessary barriers for eligible voters.
Earlier this month, Democratic leaders and voting rights advocates gathered Sept. 9 at the Japanese American National Museum (JAMN) in Los Angeles to rally against the measure. Speakers included former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra; U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.); Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón; Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister)and California Teachers Association President David Goldberg; and other Democratic leaders and activists.
Separately, state Controller Malia Cohen and state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego), chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), spoke against Proposition 39 during a Sept. 22 virtual roundtable hosted by California Democratic Party Organizing Director Helen Amelega.
Becerra, the Democratic candidate for governor, called the measure’s language broad and confusing. He warned that it could result in eligible voters being removed from voter rolls, including newly married people who recently changed their names.
“We’re going to fight for every Californian who has registered appropriately to vote to make sure they get to vote on Election Day, regardless of what your last name is,” Becerra said. “If you are registered, you should be able to vote.”
If approved by voters Nov. 3, Prop 39 would amend the state Constitution to require voters to present government-issued identification when voting in person or provide the last four digits of a government-issued identification number when voting by mail. It would also require the state to provide voter identification cards upon request and mandate annual reports on the percentage of voters in each county whose citizenship has been verified.
Opponents argue that Prop 39 would impose unnecessary requirements on eligible voters.
Speaking to supporters, Padilla said the measure would create another “hurdle at the ballot box.” He described it as a thinly veiled attack on voting rights by President Donald Trump and his allies. Padilla called California elections “safe and secure” and accused Trump of trying to undermine democracy.
“He’s trying to decide who gets to vote and who doesn’t,” Padilla said. “But we got a message for him. Californians are once again going to stand up, going to show up, going to vote no on Prop 39.”
Yvonne Wheeler, first executive vice president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said the state should make voting easier, not harder.
“Our communities did not get the right to vote handed to us. We marched for it. We organized for it. We mobilized for it. We sacrificed, even gave our lives for it,” Wheeler said. “Make the world understand one fundamental truth: democracy works when everybody is allowed to vote and participate in it.”
During the roundtable, Weber Pierson portrayed the measure as a continuation of Republican claims about the 2020 presidential election.
“Prop 39 is not as it seems. It’s not about protecting voters, and it’s not about protecting election integrity,” said Weber Pierson. “(President) Donald Trump lost in 2020, and ever since he’s been crying election fraud despite there being no evidence to prove that.
Weber Pierson compared the proposal to historical mechanisms used to disenfranchise Black voters.
“The ability for Black people to vote was hard-fought for by our ancestors. They fought for years before we actually went to the ballot (box) and had our voices heard,” Weber Pierson said. “This is another tactic of making it challenging. This is the modern poll tax, and modern literacy test. They are going state by state to make voting more difficult.”
She also rejected supporters’ claims that voter fraud justified the measure.
“Regarding Prop 39, there is no problem when it’s been thoroughly evaluated,” said Weber Pierson, a physician. “This is close to being a nonexistent, zero percent problem. The data shows there is nothing to solve because there is no problem.”
Cohen criticized the measure’s potential cost as California faces continuing budget pressure. State analysts estimate one-time implementation costs in the tens of millions of dollars and annual costs potentially ranging from tens of millions to the low hundreds of millions.
“We don’t have the resources available just to squander money. California operates from a structural deficit from year in and year out,” Cohen said. “I really hope that voters will read the fine print and understand that we need to be moving together forward and not backwards. This initiative is ill-spirited and a terrible concept.”
Cohen said the campaign is already costing California “money that can be better spent someplace else.”
“When I think about the amount of money California is losing because of the Big Beautiful Bill, it has and will have an adverse impact on the state, again, targeting vulnerable populations,” Cohen added.
Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), a Trump ally who chairs Reform California, is one of the measure’s proponents. Supporters submitted more than 1.3 million signatures to qualify it for the ballot.
“Prop. 39 is the bipartisan solution to Voter ID that improves trust in our democracy through balanced and common-sense reforms — and that’s why it is supported by Democratic and Independent voters,” DeMaio stated Sept. 21.
California Black Media (CBM) contacted DeMaio’s office for additional comment but did not receive a response.
