Your guide to Proposition 39: Stricter voter ID requirements

Proposition 39 brings the national debate around U.S. election integrity home to California by proposing stricter new voter ID requirements for state elections — mandating that voters present government identification every time they vote in person, or cite a specific government ID number when voting by mail.

The measure is backed by prominent California Republicans and ultrawealthy supporters of President Trump, who is pushing even more onerous voter ID measures at the national level. The measure’s backers say it is necessary to prevent voter fraud and block noncitizens from casting ballots. They contend, without evidence, that such problems are widespread in California.

The measure is opposed by the state’s Democratic establishment and prominent civil rights groups, who say it will disenfranchise many eligible voters, particularly those of color, who are poor or live in rural communities, or who move often or have changed their names. They say the latter group would include many married women.

The opponents also contend — as do many independent election experts — that California already has robust measures for verifying the eligibility and identity of voters, and that voter fraud, including by noncitizens, is exceedingly rare.

A poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times last year found that most Californians support the idea of requiring a government ID every time a voter casts a ballot. A more recent Berkeley IGS poll found that when voters were given the added context that supporters say the measure is necessary to prevent fraud and opponents say it could disenfranchise eligible voters, they were much more split.

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Proposition 39 would require anyone voting in person in California to present a government-issued ID, and those voting by mail ballot to include the last four digits of the government-issued ID number they provided when they registered to vote.

In-person voters without ID would be turned away, while mail ballots without an attached ID number that matches their registration would be rejected. Critics note the measure does not explicitly require election officials to reach out to voters to correct or “cure” a ballot that is missing an ID number before rejecting it, as they are required to do when a voter’s ballot signature does not match what’s on file.

The measure also would require the state to provide free voter ID cards to eligible voters upon request, and state and county election officials to verify the U.S. citizenship of registered voters using government data and publicly report the findings of that work.

Under current law, Californians are required to provide identification when registering to vote and must swear under penalty of perjury — a felony — that they are eligible to vote and a U.S. citizen. They must sign their mail ballots, and their signature is compared to the one the state has on file to verify their identity. It is already against the law for noncitizens to vote.

Proposition 39’s provisions echo but are less onerous than those proposed in the SAVE America Act, the strict voter ID and proof of citizenship measure Trump is pushing in Congress.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated Proposition 39 would “increase state and local government costs each year by tens of millions of dollars to low hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Fundraising data will be updated regularly until the election.

Proposition 39 is supported by leading state Republicans and backed by major Republican and Trump donors.

The campaign to collect signatures and get the measure onto the ballot was led by Julie Luckey, director of the group Californians for Voter ID, who has insisted that it is “not a Republican or Democratic issue,” but “common-sense policy.”

Luckey is the mother of billionaire tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, a major Trump fundraiser and Republican donor and the co-founder of Anduril, which manufactures autonomous weapons systems and recently won a $363-million contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection for hundreds of autonomous surveillance towers along the southern border.

According to campaign finance reports, Californians for Voter ID has been bankrolled by other Trump megadonors as well, including Richard Uihlein, chief executive of the shipping and packing supplies company Uline, who has given the campaign $17 million.

Another major backer is Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) and his Reform California group, which has given the campaign more than $3 million and unsuccessfully challenged the state’s official summary of the measure, which describes it as one that “prohibits citizens from voting” unless they provide a government-issued ID.

DeMaio has said the measure will “restore integrity” in California elections, including by ensuring only citizens vote, and would be viewed as a “watershed event” where Republicans “turned the tide in California against far-left insanity.”

Proposition 39 is opposed by leading state Democrats, major civil rights organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and major labor unions in the state, who say the measure would disenfranchise eligible voters and expose voters to identity theft by forcing them to write personal ID numbers on mail ballot envelopes.

According to campaign finance reports, the ACLU of Northern California has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeating the measure. Quinn Delaney, a major Democratic donor and fundraiser for former President Obama, and Patty Quillin, a major philanthropist and wife of Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, both have given $1.5 million.

The Service Employees International Union Local 2015, which represents long-term caregivers, provided $1 million, the SEIU California State Council for Working People gave $500,000, and the California Teachers Assn., through its independent expenditure committee, gave another $500,000.

Arnulfo De La Cruz, president of SEIU California and SEIU Local 2015, said in a statement that the group’s members “know our nation is stronger when working people make their voices heard and have their ballots counted,” and that strict voter ID laws “are part of Trump and MAGA extremists’ agenda to rig the election system so they can cling onto their own power and get richer from corporate corruption.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) recently convened a news conference where a slate of Democratic leaders — including state Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-Goleta) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) — called on Californians to vote no on Proposition 39.

The Democrats called the measure a “dirty trick” from “Trump acolytes” akin to historic poll taxes designed to disenfranchise Black voters, and a power grab that would seriously harm millions of eligible voters, especially in Black and Latino communities.

“Proposition 39 is a direct assault on everything California stands for. Our people, our values and our fundamental belief that every eligible voter here in California deserves to have their voice heard and deserves to have their vote counted,” Rivas said.

Trump and his allies have for years claimed widespread fraud in U.S. elections, particularly in big blue states such as California. After his return to the White House last year, Trump began a fresh crusade to rewrite election laws across the country.

Courts have rejected those efforts repeatedly, including on the grounds that the president does not have authority over elections. Backers of Proposition 39, including DeMaio, have been pushing for voter reform for years, but the effort gained steam this year as frustration with the limits on Trump’s executive power over elections mounted among his supporters.

DeMaio has said that the measure is badly needed to disrupt fraud and address plummeting public trust in elections. Padilla has said it is being pushed solely because “Donald Trump is scared” of his party losing power.