Huntington Beach Voters Approve Voter ID For City Elections, Driving California Leftists Nuts
Voters in Huntington Beach, California, passed a ballot measure implementing a voter ID requirement for local elections, according to preliminary election results.
Huntington Beach Measure A amends the city charter by authorizing the local government to require electors provide identification in order to vote in municipal elections. The measure — which wouldn’t take effect until 2026 — also allows the city to “provide more in-person voting locations” and “monitor ballot drop-boxes.”
The measure appeared on Huntington Beach’s ballot during California’s 2024 presidential primary elections last week.
While the count has not been finalized due to the Golden State’s chaotic and insecure mail-in voting system, preliminary election results indicate Measure A’s passage, and its opponents have “conceded defeat,” according to LAist. As of this article’s publication, the Los Angeles Times showed 53.9 percent of electors voted in favor of the amendment and 46.1 percent voted against. Voters also appear to have passed a separate ballot measure limiting which type of flags Huntington Beach is permitted to fly on city property, which would effectively bar LGBT “pride” flags from being flown on public buildings without a unanimous vote of the city council.
The Huntington Beach City Council proposed both amendments.
Naturally, the approval of both measures has generated outcry from America’s leftist media. On Thursday, The Washington Post lamented the supposedly “divisive campaign” to pass the measures and their subsequent passage as further indication that Huntington Beach is “on [a] MAGA path.” The outlet also laughably claimed the city council’s conservative majority is “far-right” and whined that its members have “pushed the city further right” since taking control in 2022.
Despite consistently expressing support for “democracy,” Democrats are expected to subvert the will of Huntington Beach voters by challenging the measure’s legality in California’s Democrat-dominated legal system. Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, sent a letter to Huntington Beach’s leading officials in September, claiming the measure “conflicts with state law.” He also regurgitated the debunked lie that voter ID measures “serve to suppress voter participation” and threatened to take “action” if the city council failed to withdraw the proposal.
A Bonta representative reportedly told Cal Matters that the attorney general is currently monitoring the city’s election results and referred the outlet to his September letter.
Meanwhile, Democrat Sen. Dave Min — who represents Huntington Beach in the California State Legislature — introduced a bill (SB 1174) earlier this year that seeks to undermine the will of his district’s voters by prohibiting local governments “from enacting or enforcing any charter provision, ordinance, or regulation requiring a person to present identification for the purpose of voting or submitting a ballot at any polling place, voting center, or other location where ballots are cast or submitted.” The measure is currently awaiting action from the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee.
Speaking with Cal Matters, Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, a Republican, blasted California Democrats’ “lawfare” against the city and highlighted voters’ appetite for “election integrity.”
“At the end of the day, we can’t bow down to Sacramento just because they’re constantly threatening and bullying us,” Van Der Mark said. “We know the community better than Sacramento.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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