Senator Min Responds to CalDOJ Lawsuit Filed Against Unlawful Voter ID Amendment in Huntington Beach
(SACRAMENTO, CA) – Today, Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) issued a statement in response to the lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. against the City of Huntington Beach challenging its voter identification (ID) law, Measure A.
“Election integrity in California falls under the authority of the state government, full stop,” said State Senator Dave Min. “The State Legislature has already enacted a robust framework for ensuring fair and free elections, one that has been efficiently administered by the Secretary of State and local Registrars. If there are problems with voting in Huntington Beach, then they should present evidence of these problems to the State Legislature, and we can adopt the appropriate changes. However, despite repeated requests to the Huntington Beach City Council majority that passed this measure, they have yet to produce evidence of ANY voter fraud. At the same time, Orange County’s District Attorney has found that there is no evidence of illegal voting in Huntington Beach or elsewhere. The last thing we need right now, when Donald Trump is falsely attacking the legitimacy of the 2020 election results, is 100 different cities in California imposing 100 different sets of election requirements to try to get featured on Fox News.”
Senator Min further added, “Apparently, Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates has argued that the presentation of my bill SB 1174 illustrates that HB’s measure is legal under California law. He is either misunderstanding the law or intentionally being misleading. It is 100% clear that no charter city can implement election requirements that might impact voters voting for county, state, or federal elections, which is what Huntington Beach is proposing to do. My reading is that it is not yet decided, and therefore ambiguous, whether a charter city could hold its own elections—with its own unique election requirements—at a different time and place from other elections. SB 1174 would clear away any ambiguity and make clear that charter cities could not implement their own voter ID requirements under any circumstances.”
The lawsuit follows the introduction of Senate Bill (SB) 1174, authored by Senator Min, which prohibits local governments from imposing new and locally determined voter ID requirements, and makes clear that the State of California has exclusive jurisdiction over voter verification processes across the state. If signed into law by the Governor, SB 1174 would nullify Measure A before it is enacted.
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