California voter ID petition gets 500,000+ signatures in one month

FIRST ON FOX: More than 500,000 California voters have signed a petition to amend the state constitution to ensure voter ID laws apply to all elections, leaders of the coalition called Californians for Voter ID told Fox News Digital.

“We had a dog voting in the last few elections in Costa Mesa,” Republican California state Sen. Tony Strickland told Fox News Digital in a phone interview Wednesday about California’s persistent voter integrity concerns. “We don’t purge our voter rolls. A lot of times people move, college students move out of state, or people move and they don’t purge the voter rolls. We send mail to everybody and so there are a lot of live ballots with ballot harvesting.”

“Our initiative will now clear voter rolls across the state,” he added.

Strickland, who represents a district that includes parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties along the Southern California coast, is helping lead the charge to collect more than a million petition signatures from California voters to force the issue on the ballot for the 2026 election. The signature collection process began on October 1; This means that the group garnered support from more than half a million voters in one month.

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS HAVE STARTED VOTER ID BALLOT COUNT, NEED 875 THOUSAND SIGNATURES BY THE DEADLINE

The Californians for Voter ID initiative would specifically amend California’s constitution to require voters to present government-issued identification before voting in all future elections in the state.

California voters will be required to present a government-issued ID before voting in person or provide the last four digits of a state ID if they vote by mail. Under the initiative, election officials would be required to verify a voter’s citizenship to ensure only legal residents register to vote or receive an ballot.

Democrats have historically opposed voter ID laws over claims that they disenfranchise minority voters, while conservatives argue that the law would ensure that only legal residents can vote and further strengthen voter integrity. Thirty-six states currently have voter ID laws on the books, but such laws vary and contain some exceptions.

But Californians say for Voter ID leaders, the issue is not a partisan issue but an effort to preserve democracy for all Americans.

Ryan Erwin, the effort’s chief strategist, told Fox News Digital that recent polls show 70% of Californians across the political spectrum support elections that require ID to vote, underscoring the overwhelming support that has already led to more than 500,000 signatures.

“We are on track to qualify for the vote faster than any other measure in California history,” Erwin said. “Voter ID is a common-sense way to build trust in the election process by requiring election officials to use government data to verify citizenship and voter eligibility while also requiring identification for every vote counted.”

OBAMA APPROVES NEWSOM CALIFORNIA REDISTRIBUTION PROP 50

“Californians of all political stripes are eager to increase confidence in the system by eliminating abuse and errors while protecting every eligible vote,” he continued. “Volunteer efforts are overperforming, we have signatures from all 58 counties and are on track to qualify well ahead of our goal.”

The group needs a total of 874,641 signatures to get the initiative on the 2026 ballot in the Golden State, but aims to collect 1.2 million signatures to ensure support is approved by county officials who will review the data before it is allowed on the ballot. Organizers have until March to collect the necessary signatures before potentially moving to a vote – Strickland said he is confident they will get the necessary support.

State Senator Tony Strickland, a California Republican, is confident they will have the support needed to get the ballot initiative on the ballot. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“You have to be a citizen to register to vote,” Strickland said of the merits of the change, calling the change “very simple.”

“You have seven types of documents, you choose which document format to use based on the last four digits of the document,” he said. “When you go to the polls, you show your ID, and if you send your ballot by mail, you show documentation for the last four digits of your choice.”

“Another part of this initiative is our mandatory audit of the election rules of all 58 counties after every election,” he added.

Strickland is no stranger to voter ID efforts in the deep blue state, including supporting a voter ID ballot initiative in Huntington Beach, Calif., in 2024 when he serves on the city council. Voters approved a change requiring voters to show identification when voting in local elections, but the California Court of Appeals struck down the law in November.

If a statewide voter ID effort is approved by voters on the 2026 ballot, local lawmakers would have to comply with the voter ID laws outlined in the initiative.

TRUMP SAYS HE WILL REQUIRE VOTER ID BY EXECUTIVE ORDER

Strickland said the tremendous amount of support the initiative has already received is on par with Proposition 13, a 1978 initiative that “the public rose up when the legislature was out of touch with the public” and passed the ballot measure that fundamentally changed the way property taxes are assessed and limited in California.

Strickland also compared it to the successful recall of former Democratic Governor Gray Davis in 2003; This was the first and only successful recall of a governor in California. As energy and economic woes rocked the state, Strickland was the first legislator to approve Davis’ recall.

If the California voter ID effort is approved by voters at the ballot box in 2026, local lawmakers would have to comply with the voter ID laws outlined in the initiative. (Gary Leonard/Getty Images)

“If we talk about the state of California, I would lump what’s going on today with voter ID and voter integrity with those two movements in California,” he said.

The California state senator also praised California Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio and his group, Reform California, for their ongoing efforts to defend voter ID laws in the state, calling DeMaio’s work “relentless.” Strickland and DeMaio are co-authors of the voter ID push and have teamed up to meet with voters at various events to rally support; this includes a recent event in Santa Barbara where people couldn’t get through the doors because it was too crowded, he said.

Voter ID Law in Texas wins in Court of Appeals after lawsuit filed by Biden Admin

California’s voting laws have come under the critical eye of the Trump administration just this week, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying on X Tuesday that the Golden State has “the WORST laws for securing elections in the entire country.”

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that California faces “very serious civil and criminal scrutiny” over allegations that special elections to redraw the state’s congressional district lines were mired in fraud. Voters passed redistricting measure Tuesday with Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrating

Leavitt posted a lengthy message detailing the problems he saw in the state’s election process: “Although nearly 90% of Americans support photo ID laws, California does not require voters to show photo ID before voting.” “California uses universal mail-in ballots, which we know are extremely vulnerable to fraud and abuse. In the 2024 election alone, California sent out nearly 10 million mail-in ballots that were never returned.”

Heritage Foundation It maintains a database compiling known cases of voter fraud (i.e., cases that lead to criminal convictions) and found that there have been at least 68 cases of voter fraud in California since 2001. Examples include people fraudulently using absentee ballots for duplicate votes, non-resident votes, and fraudulent voter registration.

The database shows other states, such as Illinois and Texas, have more confirmed cases of voter fraud, with more than 100 cases each, while other states, such as Nebraska, have had at least three confirmed cases of voter fraud in recent years.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt takes a question from a reporter during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on November 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Newsom disputed the allegations, arguing that California’s elections were fair and secure, and criticized Trump for his remarks.

“Today, just as the polls were opening, he announced that this election was rigged. Those are familiar words, of course. That’s exactly what Donald Trump said after January 6, that day of love, when he tried to set democracy on fire, he tried to destroy this country,” Newsom said Tuesday after polling showed the state had accepted Proposition 50 for redistricting. he said.

“I hope the sobriety of this moment comes to people’s minds,” Newsom continued. “What’s at stake. Tonight, as I said, is an extraordinary moment for our party, but still an extraordinary moment that affirms these principles. Our founding fathers did not live and die to see Donald Trump seek to continue the vandalism of this republic and our democracy.”

A ballot initiative backed by Governor Gavin Newsom to redistrict California’s congressional boundaries was passed in a special election on November 4, 2025. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

For Strickland, he advocated that the voter ID initiative would move forward with the help of grassroots efforts and a little “homework.”

CLICK TO REACH THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION

“I’m going to talk to two groups today and I’m giving them homework, just saying, ‘Please get these packets. We’re planning on getting 50 signatures, we’re planning on getting 100 signatures.’ And I use a sports analogy. In baseball, if you score two out of every 10 pitches, you’re barely making it to the big leagues. You will most likely move to the second league. But if you get three hits out of every 10, you’re an all-star. And I want everyone to take that extra kick in life,” Strickland said.