Voters in California will decide on a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment that would require voter identification and establish new requirements for voter registration lists and citizenship verification.

State Asm. Carl DeMaio (R) and State Sen. Tony Strickland (R), along with businessman Donald DiCostanzo, filed the ballot initiative. The campaign, named Californians for Voter ID, filed 1.37 million signatures on March 2. At least 874,641 needed to be found valid. On April 24, the state Elections Division announced that a random sample projected that 80.2% of the signatures were valid, or about 1.1 million valid signatures.

Asm. DeMaio said, "The California Voter ID Initiative is a common-sense and bipartisan way to restore the trust and confidence all voters should have in our election system." Sen. Strickland said, "This is an initiative that’s incredibly popular amongst Democrats and Republicans. I think the only way we don’t get this passed is if we get (outspent). So we’re working very hard with an on-the-ground campaign apparatus."

Opponents formed a campaign, named Californians for Voting Rights, on April 7. Michael Gomez Daly, political director for the California Donor Table, which is involved in the opposition campaign, said, "This ballot measure is a multi-million dollar so-called solution to a problem that doesn’t exist... This totally unnecessary ballot measure is just part of Trump’s national campaign to stop people from voting who don’t support his authoritarian agenda."

The Californians for Voter ID and Reform California PACs have received $12.4 million through December 31. The largest donors were Richard Uihlein, CEO of Uline Corporation, who provided $4.0 million, and Steven Bray, CEO of Power Plus, who provided $2.5 million. Californians for Voting Rights, the opposition PAC, formed after the last campaign finance deadline on Feb. 2. The next campaign finance update is April 30.

Since 2004, voters in 11 states decided on 12 ballot measures to require or expand voter identification requirements. Voters approved nine (75%) of these measures and rejected three (25%). The average vote was 60.3%, with the highest at 79.5% in Arkansas (2018) and the lowest at 35.8% in Maine (2025).

Of the 12 ballot measures, three were decided in states with Republican trifectas at the time of the vote, eight were in states with divided governments, and one—Maine in 2025—was in a state with a Democratic trifecta. California will be the second state with a Democratic trifecta to vote on a voter ID ballot initiative. Based on 2024 presidential election results, California will be the most Democratic-leaning state to vote on a voter ID ballot initiative.

Across the United States, 36 states require some form of voter identification for in-person voting, including 24 that require identification containing a photograph.

The ballot initiative would require "government-issued identification ... that allows conclusive verification of the voter’s identity." Voters would be required to present a government-issued ID for in-person voting or provide the last four digits of a government-issued ID designated during voter registration for mail-in voting. The state would be required to provide a voter with a voter ID card at no cost upon request. The constitutional language would provide that "officials shall only count a regular or provisional ballot after verifying the identity of the person... and verifying that the person has cast only one ballot in the election."

The ballot initiative would also require election officials to "maintain accurate voter registration lists [and]... use best efforts to verify citizenship attestations using government data” and to report each year the percentage of each county’s voter rolls that have been citizenship-verified. The State Auditor would be required to audit government compliance with these requirements during odd-numbered years and report “findings and recommendations for improving the integrity of elections to the public.”

Citizens would be permitted to seek judicial review for state or local non-compliance with the initiative.

Currently, in California, voters must attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury when registering. State law does not require documentary proof of citizenship, and election officials are not required to verify citizenship using government data.

California will be one of at least four states to vote on a voter ID ballot measure in 2026. In neighboring Nevada, voters will also decide on a ballot initiative, Question 7. In Nevada, initiated constitutional amendments need to be approved in two even-numbered election years, meaning that Question 7 needs to be approved in 2024 and 2026. In 2024, Question 7 received 73.2% of the vote.

Voters in the other two states—North Carolina and Oklahoma—will decide on legislative referrals. Both states have voter identification requirements in state law. In North Carolina, the state constitution requires photo ID for in-person voting. The proposal would expand the constitutional requirement to voting in general, including mail-in voting. Oklahoma has a state statute, but not a constitutional requirement.