California voters reject sweeping anti-voting ballot measure

California voters rejected Proposition 39 Tuesday, defeating a sweeping Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would have imposed strict new identification requirements on both in-person and mail voting.

The measure failed 58.6% to 41.6%, preserving California’s existing system for verifying voters and preventing what voting rights groups warned could have kept eligible voters from having their ballots counted.

Proposition 39 would have prohibited in-person voters from casting a regular ballot without presenting government-issued identification. Californians voting by mail would have been required to write the last four digits of a designated government-issued identification number on their ballot envelope, which election officials would then compare with the number attached to the voter’s registration. A mismatch could have prevented the ballot from counting.

The amendment would also have required election officials to make new efforts to verify voters’ citizenship and report annually on the percentage of voters whose citizenship had been confirmed. Full implementation would have required additional legislation to determine details including which forms of identification voters could use.

With the measure’s defeat, California will continue primarily verifying the identity of mail voters through the signature on their ballot return envelope.

Supporters of Proposition 39 argued the requirements would increase confidence in California elections and deter voter fraud. The campaign was spearheaded by Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and his political organization Reform California and attracted tens of millions of dollars from Republican donors across the country.

But opponents — including the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause and League of Women Voters of California — argued the measure would have created unnecessary barriers for eligible voters, particularly people who lack up-to-date identification or whose information does not exactly match their voter registration. They also pointed to the cost: the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated the new requirements could cost state and local governments anywhere from tens of millions to the low hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

“California sent a resounding message to those who would try to roll back voting rights: hands off our elections,” Jenny Farrell, executive director for the League of Women Voters California, told Democracy Docket. “I’m thrilled to see that it appears to be a decisive victory. Prop 39 failed because Californians saw it for what it was: a waste of taxpayer dollars to solve a problem that doesn’t exist that also risked disenfranchising millions of voters.”

The measure landed on California’s ballot as President Donald Trump and his allies intensified a nationwide push for stricter identification and citizenship requirements for voting. California, which mails a ballot to every active registered voter, has repeatedly resisted federal efforts this year to reshape how the state conducts elections.

Proposition 39’s defeat means those proposed identification requirements will not become part of the California Constitution.