Even while courting moderates on voter ID, GOP leaders still push debunked fraud narrative.

With President Donald Trump dragging them down in the polls, California Republicans are repackaging one of his core crusades into an idea they hope will be more palatable to voters.

They are framing their successful push to get a voter ID law on the November ballot as a “common sense” measure.

“We’ve structured this initiative based on what voters across the political spectrum would want,” says Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, adding that showing an ID at the polls shouldn’t be any different than using one to buy alcohol or pass airport security.

In April, GOP legislators held a “stop the fraud” press conference, where they alleged, without proof, rampant corruption across state government, from elections to homelessness programs, and urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to call a special election to “audit” the alleged fraud.

Voting rights groups say the measure would create needless barriers and would stifle turnout among low-income and disabled voters.

Current law already requires counties to routinely review voter registration databases to remove anyone who is ineligible to vote in case of a move, incarceration or death.

“Those checks and that maintenance of that list is already happening,” League of Women Voters Executive Director Jenny Farrell says. “We don’t need to erect new barriers.”

If passed, as many as 1 million eligible voters could be kept from voting. Another 500,000 aren’t registered and don’t have the necessary documents it would require, according to UCLA Voting Rights Project director Matt Barreto.

“We don’t need to erect new barriers.”

“There’s been a very consistent finding in almost any state, in any environment, that lower-income and working-class voters are less likely to have an updated, valid ID,” Barreto says.

Labor groups who bankrolled Democrats’ campaign for last year’s redistricting proposal, Proposition 50, are funding a similar opposition campaign focused on Trump’s push for a federal proof-of-citizenship bill in Congress.

Meanwhile, Democrats want to increase penalties for violating election laws after Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a candidate for governor, seized hundreds of thousands of ballots earlier this year over baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2025 election.

Experts agree voter fraud is rare.

However, fears about election integrity have risen among Republicans since Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen.

This is DeMaio’s third attempt at a voter ID ballot initiative, and it qualified for the November general election ballot last month.

Strategists say there’s little evidence that ballot initiatives actually turn out voters, but this measure is something intended to activate voters in what will likely be a difficult election year for Republicans.

NADIA LATHAN covers politics for CalMatters, where this story first appeared, in partnership with Voice of San Diego.