As we approach the November midterms, the Trump administration is employing every tactic in its authoritarian playbook to cling to power. Here in California, Trump allies have sponsored Proposition 39—a voter ID ballot measure whose sole purpose is to make it harder for millions of eligible Californians to cast a ballot. It mirrors similar efforts nationwide to suppress turnout among voters who oppose Trump’s anti-democratic policies.
Defeating Prop 39 is a top election priority for the ACLU of Northern California. We’ve brought together a wide-ranging coalition—voting rights groups, disability advocates, labor unions, community organizations, civil rights organizations and elected officials—to block it. ACLU NorCal provided the seed funding to launch Californians for Voting Rights, the coalition campaign to defeat Prop 39, alongside our own on-the-ground organizing, voter education, and get-out-the-vote work to ensure Californians understand what’s at stake and vote NO on Prop 39. U.S. Senator Alex Padilla has joined the Californians for Voting Rights effort to debunk the measure’s misleading claims and expose how it would create obstacles to casting a ballot for eligible voters.
If Prop 39 were to pass, no one could vote in person without producing a government-issued ID. For the more than 80 percent of Californians who vote by mail, they’d have to write the last four digits of their ID number on their ballot return envelope—making voters easy targets for identity theft. Voters would have to choose between voting by mail and protecting their privacy. One transposed or indecipherable digit could cause a ballot to be rejected.
Election officials would be required to re-check every voter’s citizenship against government databases—systems known for inaccuracies that can mistakenly sweep up naturalized citizens and other legitimate voters, putting them at risk of being purged from the rolls.
Communities of color, lower-income Californians, voters with disabilities and older residents with incomplete or outdated paperwork would have greater likelihood of not having their voices counted.
Furthermore, anyone who’s changed their name or moved recently, would have to update their government ID to vote in person.
The state estimates the measure could cost tens of millions of dollars to implement, plus millions more annually.
Prop 39 is backed by Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego, a Trump ally, who submitted signatures for the measure in March after failing to push the policy through the legislature.
Numerous studies—from the Brennan Center to the Cato Institute to the Bipartisan Policy Center—confirm that voter impersonation and noncitizen voting are exceedingly rare. An analysis of the Heritage Foundation’s own database found that over more than 20 years, there were just 77 documented instances of noncitizen voting out of billions of ballots cast.
“California elections are already secure. We verify individuals’ information at every stage of the registration process,” said Angélica Salceda, program director of the ACLU NorCal Democracy, Speech and Technology program. “This is voter suppression, pure and simple.”
Remember the number: 39. And vote No in November.
Paid for by ACLU of Northern California Issues Committee. Ad Committee’s Top Funder: ACLU Foundation of Northern California.
