A California mayor is defiant after Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law in direct response to the city’s attempt to secure elections.
The saga began on March 5, when Huntington Beach voters weighed in and passed ballot measure 1, the Voter ID and Election Rules Amendment.
According to Ballotpedia, the charter amendment authorized the city to require voter identification for elections and allowed infrastructure to support the initiative.
In 2023, then-Mayor Tony Strickland supported the measure in the face of pressure from local and state Democrats seeking to torpedo it.
“Our democracy does not work if people do not have faith in the election results,” Strickland told Voice of OC. “Anytime you can put safeguards in I think it’s important to do so people have faith in our election outcomes.”
Huntington Beach voters passed the measure with 53.4 percent approving the measure and 46.6 percent rejecting it. The increased election security was set to begin in 2026.
After the initiative passed, state legislators were quick to react to Huntington Beach voter’s approval of the measure and moved to crush it entirely.
In April, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber sued the city over what it called an “unlawful” voter ID amendment.
The two officials said, without evidence, that the measure would hurt the poor, elderly and “people of color.”
Is Huntington Beach in the right?
After the vote, California state Senator Dave Min introduced legislation that would bar local governments from implementing their own voter requirements.
After introducing his bill, Min dismissed citizens’ attempts to secure their local elections, saying “[we] can’t have local jurisdictions implementing their own voting requirements.”
Governor Newsom signed the bill into law Sunday, according to Politico. The new law will take effect on January 1, 2025.
Unfortunately for Newsom and Co., current Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark isn’t about to quietly let Sacramento dictate the future of her city.
She questions whether the state even has jurisdiction over charter cities like Huntington Beach, and the constitutionality of Min’s legislation.
“The state cannot pass any laws that strip us of our constitutional rights,” Van Der Mark told LAist, “so that law does not apply to us or affect our new election laws.”
Judging by the law Newsom just signed and Van Der Mark’s refusal to back down, the city and state are likely headed for a heated court battle.
Although neither of these initiatives will come into effect before the impending 2024 elections, the vote — now just weeks away — will likely be marked by similar conflicts over election integrity across the country.
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