Prop 39 opponents rally against California's proposed voter ID law

Opponents of Proposition 39 on Wednesday rallied against the proposed voter ID law appearing on California's November ballot.  

Currently, California law requires an ID and Social Security number to register. Voters are not required to present IDs at polling stations and mail-in ballots are verified through signatures. 

If passed, Prop 39 would require proof of citizenship to vote and IDs at polling stations. It would also require voters to provide the last four digits of their government ID with their mail-in ballots. 

California's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said the measure could "increase state and local government costs each year by tens of millions of dollars to low hundreds of millions of dollars" to implement the new voting requirements. 

"These costs represent less than one-quarter of 1 percent (0.25 percent) of the state's total General Fund budget," the office wrote in its analysis. "The exact cost would depend on future choices made by the Legislature, state departments, local governments, and voters."

It added that if passed, Prop 39 could save California some money because there would be fewer registered voters, but "these savings likely would not exceed the costs of the measure."

During the rally, Democrats criticized the proposal and called it a Republican-led assault to disenfranchise voters. 

"Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda would like nothing better than to take California and our democracy backward," Sen. Alex Padilla said. "We're not going to let that happen."

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R- San Diego), who is leading the effort to pass Prop 39, called the proposal "the most important ballot measure" California has had in decades. 

"The California voter ID initiative is a bipartisan, common-sense reform to restore public trust and confidence in our elections," he said. "It's simple: make sure that we properly maintain our voter rolls. Audit the voter rolls."

Election officials said audits show the current mail-in ballot system is secure and that there is no evidence of widespread fraud in California. 

"It appears to be a solution in search of a problem," said Matt Lesenyie, a politics professor at CSU Long Beach. "We know this because there have been no high-profile convictions of fraudsters."

The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies released a poll in April that found 56% of voters supported the measure.

"We've collected 1.4 million signatures to put this on the ballot, and nearly half of those signatures came from Democrats and Independents," DeMaio said.