A California mayor is defiant after Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law in direct response to the city’s attempt to secure elections.
The saga began on March 5, when Huntington Beach voters weighed in and passed ballot measure 1, the Voter ID and Election Rules Amendment.
According to Ballotpedia, the charter amendment authorized the city to require voter identification for elections and allowed infrastructure to support the initiative.
In 2023, then-Mayor Tony Strickland supported the measure in the face of pressure from local and state Democrats seeking to torpedo it.
“Our democracy does not work if people do not have faith in the election results,” Strickland told Voice of OC. “Anytime you can put safeguards in I think it’s important to do so people have faith in our election outcomes.”
Huntington Beach voters passed the measure with 53.4 percent approving the measure and 46.6 percent rejecting it. The increased election security was set to begin in 2026.
After the initiative passed, state legislators were quick to react to Huntington Beach voter’s approval of the measure and moved to crush it entirely.
In April, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber sued the city over what it called an “unlawful” voter ID amendment.
The two officials said, without evidence, that the measure would hurt the poor, elderly and “people of color.”
Hellbound and Down 