The California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to hear Huntington Beach’s appeal, shutting down the city’s effort to put into effect a voter ID rule that residents approved in 2024. By staying on the sidelines, the justices left in place a November appellate ruling that said the charter amendment clashes with state election law and therefore cannot be enforced.
High court leaves appellate ruling in place
By declining review, the state’s high court made the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s November decision the last word, which blocks Huntington Beach from demanding identification at the polls. The March 2024 charter change would have required in-person voters to present a photo ID and would have asked mail voters to list either the last four digits of a Social Security number or a driver’s license number, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. With the appellate decision now final, the city has no realistic way to roll out the ID rules before the 2026 municipal elections.
Appeals court: local ID risked disenfranchising voters
The appeals panel concluded that voter ID requirements touch on statewide concerns about ballot access and could “discourage qualified voters,” particularly low-income residents, voters of color, people with disabilities, and older adults, according to The Associated Press. The judges said letting each city write its own ID rules would upset the uniform balance in California’s election code between making voting accessible and guarding against fraud. By refusing to intervene, the Supreme Court effectively endorsed that framework.
Backers vow a statewide fight
Supporters of a separate statewide initiative say they are not backing off and insist that voters should decide whether California adopts a statewide ID requirement. Proponents, including state Sen. Tony Strickland and Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, say they have already gathered more than 1 million signatures to qualify a constitutional amendment for the November 2026 ballot, according to their campaign’s release. DeMaio blasted the court’s move and labeled the justices “liberal justices who are lapdogs, not watchdogs,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
State law and the legal landscape
Earlier this year, lawmakers added Section 10005 to the Elections Code, which explicitly forbids cities and other local governments from creating or enforcing voter ID rules that are not required by state or federal law, per the bill text. The Attorney General’s office and Secretary of State Shirley Weber sued Huntington Beach, arguing that Measure A would impose illegal hurdles to voting, and the state’s top election officials publicly welcomed the appeals court’s decision.
What comes next
Huntington Beach officials say they are reviewing the decision and weighing their legal options, and the ID measure has never been put into practice because of the ongoing court fight, according to local reporting. Critics have derided the city’s push as an expensive political statement that risked sidelining vulnerable voters, while supporters of ID rules maintain that any major change should happen at the statewide level. Unless backers manage to qualify and pass a constitutional amendment in 2026, California’s uniform election rules will remain in place for local races.
