Voter ID Fast Facts

• Registration: Voters certify eligibility under penalty of perjury; officials verify voters’ identities
• In-Person: Voters state name and address and sign the roster
• Vote-By-Mail: Signature verification confirms identity
• Criminal Penalties: Illegal voting is a felony and noncitizens face deportation risk

• All vote-by-mail voters risk identity theft and rejected ballots due to ID-matching problems
• All in-person voters: ID checks slow check-in, creating longer lines, delays, and more mistakes that can wrongly lead to rejected ballots
• Communities where fewer people have IDs including communities of color, seniors, students, low-income voters, and people with disabilities
• People navigating name changes
• Anyone who has moved
• People experiencing housing instability
• Naturalized citizens, who could face false "noncitizen" flags

• Privacy and identity-theft risk from putting ID numbers on mailed ballot envelopes
• More rejected ballots from data-entry errors
• Hidden costs for voters (time off work, travel, and document fees to obtain ID)
• False citizenship flags from flawed database matching
• Slower vote count from more flagged ballots

(National data)

Eligible voters without a current driver's license:

• Black voters: 28%
• Hispanic voters: 27%
• Asian/Pacific Islander voters: 21%
• Ages 18–24: 41%
• Ages 25–29: 38%
• Black voters 18-29: 47%
• Voters with disabilities: 29%

Eligible voters without a driver's license:

• Black voters: 18%
• Hispanic voters: 15%
• Asian/Pacific Islander voters: 13%
• Black voters ages 18-29: 30%
• Voters with disabilities: 20%

MYTH: "It's just showing ID."

FACT: Not everyone has an ID, and complex rules get misapplied — blocking eligible voters and increasing ballot rejections, especially for vote-by-mail.

MYTH: "We need citizenship checks to stop fraud."

FACT: California already has processes in place to ensure that only eligible citizens can vote. Non-citizen voting is extremely rare (only 77 cases nationwide in over 20 years). Checks rely on flawed data and wrongfully flag eligible citizens.

MYTH: "There's a free ID, so it's fair."

FACT: Hidden costs include time off work, travel, childcare, and fees for birth certificates or other documents to get ID — a modern-day poll tax.

California's challenge isn't voter fraud, it's voter participation. Our focus should be on bringing more voices into the process, not erecting new obstacles. Multiple studies, from the Brennan Center to the Cato Institute, confirm voter impersonation and non-citizen voting are exceedingly rare.