Proposition 39: California Voter Identification, Citizenship Verification, and Registered Voter List Administration Initiative

Prop 39: Yes (Voter ID)

Yes on Prop 39: Voter ID to Improve Trust in Elections

DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.”

Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters.  Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting.  Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

Source (https://www.reformcalifornia.org/voter-guides/san-diego)

YES on Prop. 39

Proposition 39 is the Voter ID initiative. While 36 states currently require some form of voter ID, California isn’t one of them. Voter ID is used successfully around the country to prevent voter impersonation at the polls and to ensure that mail ballots are validly submitted by eligible voters. It’s especially important to California taxpayers to secure our elections from the potential for fraud, because billions of dollars of tax measures are on the ballot in nearly every election.

Vote YES on 39.

Source (https://www.hjta.org/2026votingguide#Ballot-Measure-Recommendations)

Prop 39 - Ensures Only Citizens Can Vote in US Elections (you know, that sovereignty thing?)

Endorsement: YES on Proposition 39

As long as we are a sovereign nation, we support the principle that only citizens should vote in state and federal elections, and that verifying citizenship at the ballot requires some form of identification. ID is already required for most everyday transactions: flying, opening a bank account, starting a job, and states that have adopted voter ID have generally paired it with free ID programs. We believe that's the right model: require ID, and make sure everyone who is eligible can get one at no cost.

Vote YES on Proposition 39.

Source (https://www.connectedsf.com/2026-voter-guide#prop-39)

**DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.” Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting. Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

PROP 39 would require a government-issued ID for in-person voting. Or the last four digits of a government-issued ID number for mail-in voting. PLUS, would require election officials to maintain accurate voter registration lists, and use “BEST EFFORTS” to verify citizenship with government data. PURPOSE: To ensure that only eligible voters participate in elections. A COMMON SENSE initiative that is LONG OVERDUE !

BTW, CA DEMOCRAT PARTY is OPPOSING.

**DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.”

Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting. Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

**DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.”

Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting. Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

**DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.” Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting. Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

**DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.” Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting. Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

**DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.”

Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting. Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

**DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.”

Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting. Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

**DECEPTION ALERT: Appears on your ballot with the politicians’ FALSE ballot title of “Prohibits Citizens From Voting.”

Prop 39 is a bipartisan solution for Voter ID! That’s why it is supported by large majorities of Democratic, Republican and Independent voters. Prop 39 requires cleaning up and auditing of voter rolls and citizenship verification of anyone registering to vote. It keeps voting simple while adding integrity reforms to make voting more secure. The politicians falsely claim Prop 39 prohibits citizens from voting when it will only prevent non-citizens and ineligible individuals from voting. Prop 39 protects the right of every citizen to vote and restores public trust and confidence in our elections.

In-person impersonation, the only fraud a photo ID check can stop, is about the rarest event in American elections: a Brennan Center review (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/analysis-heritage-foundations-database-undermines-claims-recent-voter) of the Heritage Foundation's database of proven fraud cases (https://www.heritage.org/voterfraud) found just 10 cases across billions of votes.

Prop 39's citizenship checks ask only for officials' "best efforts" against government data, and the state already verifies your identity (https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration) against DMV and Social Security records when you register to vote.

The real change lands on the four out of five Californians who vote by mail (https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections). Prop 39 makes you write four digits of an ID number on your return envelope, and they must match the ID number sitting in your registration file. Forget which number you registered with, or transpose a digit, and your valid ballot has a brand-new way to get rejected, on top of the signature check that already works.

For this, the Legislative Analyst's Office estimates (https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-007) it will cost in the tens of millions to low hundreds of millions of dollars per year, all to chase a non-existent problem, all while making your own ballot easier to reject. Vote no.

Source (https://growsf.org/voter-guide/san-francisco-voter-guide-november-2026-election#prop-39)

Prop 39 is a bullshit Voter ID law put forth by Trump’s lackeys to stoke fears of “illegal voting” this November. MAGA Republicans put Prop 39 on the ballot, even though massive voter fraud is a straight-up myth. (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/us/politics/trump-election-voter-fraud.html) Experts overwhelmingly agree that widespread voter fraud— both in California and nationally—is a "Big Lie." (https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-voter-fraud/) So why are Republicans pushing Prop 39, which would amend the California constitution to require voters to show government-issued ID at the polls? Maybe because they’re afraid of voters.

Under Prop 39, voters would need to give the last four digits of a government ID, such as a driver’s license number, at the polls. The measure would also require election officials to maintain voter registration lists with citizenship checks, and to verify IDs before counting ballots. 

This proposition comes on  top of all the voter suppression measures at the national level—gerrymandering to weaken Black districts (https://www.npr.org/2026/07/23/nx-s1-5896335/black-voters-republican-redistricting) , trying to end mail-in voting (https://abcnews.com/US/usps-makes-new-rules-mail-ballots/story?id=135879673), encouraging states to make it harder to vote (https://www.npr.org/2026/08/25/nx-s1-5940004/voter-id-citizenship-ballot-measures), and railing constantly about “voter fraud (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/us/politics/trump-election-voter-fraud.html).” By establishing strict voter ID laws, with layers of cumbersome “verification,” Prop 39 would create unnecessary hurdles for students, seniors, low-income residents, and people with disabilities, who are less likely to have up-to-date driver’s licenses. Ultimately, the plan would lead to longer lines at the polls, and eligible voters having their ballots tossed out. Fewer votes, less democracy: that’s the MAGA plan.

Prop 39 is also super-wasteful. It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars each year in an attempt to fix a problem that everybody agrees doesn’t exist. It’s a costly political stunt we can’t afford. The good news is we only need 50% of voters to shut this thing down—vote HELL NO on Prop 39!

Source (https://www.theleaguesf.org/#Prop39)

SPUR's Recommendation

California already has safeguards to protect election integrity. When registering, voters certify eligibility under penalty of perjury and provide identifying information. In-person voters state their name and address and sign the roster, while signature verification is used for vote-by-mail ballots. Illegal voting is a felony. California has no evidence of widespread voter fraud, despite allegations following the 2020 presidential election. Research has found that strict voter ID requirements can create barriers for voters who lack acceptable identification.

In September 2024, California enacted SB 1174, which prohibits local governments — including charter cities — from requiring voters to present identification to vote unless required by state or federal law. Prop. 39 would override this prohibition and establish a statewide voter ID requirement.

Implementing the strict voter ID requirements in this proposition could impose high costs on state and local governments. Without evidence of widespread voter fraud, adding barriers to voting and imposing significant implementation costs on already-strained public budgets is not a good investment.

What Prop. 39 Would Do

Proposition 39 would amend the California Constitution to add three new requirements to statewide voter rules:

1. Voters would need to present government-issued identification to vote in person or provide the last four digits of a government-issued identification number to vote by mail.
2. The state would be required to provide a free voter identification card to any voter who requests one.
3. The Secretary of State and county elections officials would be required to verify voters’ citizenship attestations and annually report the percentage of each county’s voter rolls that have been citizenship-verified.

The proposition language does not specify which forms of ID would qualify or how citizenship would be verified. Instead, it authorizes the Legislature to pass implementing legislation to work out those details after voters pass the initiative.

The Backstory

The federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) was enacted to protect the constitutional right to vote for Black Americans and other minority groups. For decades, it provided federal oversight of elections in jurisdictions with histories of discrimination. However, recent Supreme Court decisions have weakened key VRA provisions. As a result, states face fewer barriers to adopting stricter voter ID laws, reducing early voting, closing polling locations, and changing election procedures, raising concerns about voter access and representation.

Under the 2002 Help America Vote Act, all first-time voters in federal elections who registered by mail must show ID. California also verifies voter identity with a driver’s license number, state identification number, or the last four digits of a Social Security number when registering people to vote, attesting under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens. In addition, states verify signatures on vote-by-mail ballots.

Since the 2020 presidential election, public claims of voter fraud have increased, despite extremely low instances in U.S. elections. Currently, 36 states require some form of identification at polling sites. Of those, only nine states have “strict” voter ID laws that require a voter to present an ID (some states require a photo ID; others do not) to cast a ballot. Voters without proper ID must cast a provisional ballot and then take additional steps before their ballot is officially counted. In the remaining 27 “non-strict” voter ID states, voters without proper ID can sign an affidavit verifying their identity (subject to perjury).

State Voter ID Requirements as of 2020

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures (https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

Recently, Republican Party leaders have made efforts to enact voter ID laws in California. In September 2024, the state Legislature passed Senate Bill 1174, which prohibits local governments in California from enacting their own voter ID requirements. The state then sued Huntington Beach over its 2024 voter ID measure, arguing that state election law preempted it. In January 2026, the California Supreme Court sided with the state and struck down Huntington Beach’s local voter ID requirement.

In January 2025, Assemblymember Carl DeMaio introduced the California Voter ID and Election Integrity Act of 2025 (Assembly Bill 25), pursuing a legislative path to a statewide voter ID law. The bill failed on a party-line vote in April 2025. This year, a federal voter ID law, H.R.7296, the SAVE America Act, was introduced to Congress. If H.R. 7296 were to pass, voters in all states would be required to present photo identification showing U.S. citizenship when voting, preempting state laws.

Assemblymember DeMaio’s organization, Reform California, pursued the voter initiative process this year and gathered signatures for Prop. 39. If passed, California would join the nine states with strict voter ID requirements. Prop. 39 requires a simple majority (50% plus one vote) to pass.

Equity Impacts

Research consistently finds that voters of color, low-income individuals, elderly voters, students, people with disabilities, and those who recently changed their names are less likely to possess the specific government-issued IDs required under strict voter ID laws and are more likely to face barriers to obtaining them. Costs — including fees for birth certificates and other documents, transportation to government offices, and time away from work — can create additional burdens. Researchers have documented racial disparities in ID possession and evidence that strict voter ID requirements can widen racial turnout gaps. Approximately 13% of Black Americans lack acceptable voter ID, compared with 5% of white Americans, making voter ID laws a significant equity issue.

Pros

• SPUR could not identify any benefits to this measure.

Cons

• Studies have found that voter ID laws do not reduce actual or perceived voter fraud.
• Government-issued ID requirements can create barriers for eligible voters, increase ballot rejections from data-entry errors, slow voting, and disproportionately affect people who face challenges taking time off work, traveling to obtain ID, or securing required documentation.
• Including partial ID numbers with names and addresses on mail-ballot envelopes (as would be required under this proposition) could increase privacy and identity-theft risks when combined with information exposed through other data breaches.
• Prop. 39 would impose additional costs on state and local governments, with estimated one-time costs in the tens of millions of dollars and ongoing annual costs ranging from tens to hundreds of millions, depending on future legislative requirements.

Source (https://www.spur.org/voter-guide/2026-11/ca-prop-39-california-voter-id)