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California has become the latest battleground over voter identification requirements, a longtime conservative priority newly propelled in recent years by election fraud complaints from President-elect Donald Trump.
Under a state law that takes effect on Jan. 1, local governments across California will be prohibited from compelling voters to present identification to cast a ballot in an election.
Dave Min, an Irvine Democrat just elected to Congress, took up the ban this year as a state senator after Huntington Beach voters in March adopted a charter amendment allowing the city to require ID in its municipal elections. That measure — which takes effect in 2026, and also grants the city authority to add more in-person voting locations and monitor ballot drop-boxes — was part of a broader push by local leaders to make Huntington Beach a bulwark of resistance against California’s liberal governance .