Sometimes, a news item’s symbolic meaning far exceeds its immediate effects. For instance, a new voter identification measure in California has implications far beyond the issue of election integrity or even the Golden State’s borders.
Particularly if it succeeds on the November midterm election ballot, this measure can demonstrate to conservatives how they can influence policy outcomes even in the bluest of states. It’s a formula that the movement can and should attempt to replicate in other states and on other issues.
At this early phase of the process, the proposed amendment to the California Constitution requiring the submission of ID for in-person and mail-in voting has a decent chance of enactment. Supporters claim they have collected 1.3 million signatures, or nearly 50 percent more than the 875,000 they need to get the measure on the ballot.
Assuming the measure makes it to the ballot, it appears to have support from a broad swath of the Golden State’s electorate. A poll taken last May found that a whopping 71 percent of California registered voters, including nearly 6 in 10 Democrats, support “requiring proof of U.S. citizenship when people register to vote for the first time.” The support erodes slightly when voters are asked about “requiring proof of U.S. citizenship each time a voter casts a ballot in an election” (emphasis mine), but even here, a majority of California voters (54 percent) approve strongly or somewhat.