Even as it woos moderates, the GOP is pushing a voter fraud narrative

from Nadia LathanCalMatters

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

They frame their success a push to get a voter ID law in the November election as a “common sense” measure.

“We structured this initiative based on what voters across the political spectrum would want,” Republican Assembly member Carl DeMaio of San Diego said in a March interview, adding that showing an ID at the polls should be no different than using one to buy alcohol or get through airport security.

DeMaio and other supporters point out survey that shows 56% of California voters support requiring ID at the ballot box and that most states require or recommend ID to vote.

But even as they sought to appeal to moderates, GOP lawmakers did not stop pushing Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voter fraud.

Last month, GOP lawmakers held a “stop the fraud” news conference in which they argued without evidence of widespread corruption in state government, from elections to homelessness programs, and called on Newsom to call a special election to “audit” the alleged fraud.

The poll they point to also shows, however, that support for the polling place ID requirement drops to 39 percent when voters are told it is supported by DeMaio and could suppress turnout.

Voting groups say the measure would create unnecessary barriers and stifle voter 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 the event of relocation, incarceration or death.

“These checks and the maintenance of this list is already happening,” said League of Women Voters Executive Director Jenny Farrell. “We don’t need to put up new barriers.”

Voter suppression refers to maintaining a tanked voter ID

If passed, up to 1 million eligible voters could be disenfranchised. Another 500,000 are unregistered and don’t have the necessary documents, according to UCLA Voting Rights Project Director Matt Barretto.

“There are very consistent findings in almost every state, in every environment, that lower-income and working-class voters are less likely to have an updated, valid ID,” he said.

Labor groups that funded the Democrats’ campaign for last year’s redistricting proposal, Proposition 50finance such an opposition campaign focused on Trump’s are pushing for a proof-of-citizenship bill in Congress.

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

Bianco, who confiscated the ballots in response to unsubstantiated claims by a right-wing activist group, supports voter ID.

Critics say he is instilling fear among voters and that adequate safeguards are already in place.

“We have a two-person rule where there are never ballots in an area where at least two people aren’t watching what’s going on,” said Gayle PellerinDemocratic chairman of the House Elections Committee, at a UCLA election panel last month.

Increase the base?

Experts agree that voter fraud is rare.

But fears about the integrity of the election have grown among Republicans since Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen, spurring GOP lawmakers across the country to introduce bills aimed at tightening voter restrictions.

This is DeMaio’s third attempt at a voter ID voting initiative. It qualified for the election last month.

Strategists say there is little evidence that ballot initiatives actually turn out voters, but the measure aims to activate voters in what is likely to be a difficult election year for Republicans.

“Issues like this, which are sort of red meat issues for Republicans, when the governor’s race is pretty thin, that helps,” Stutzman said. “It’s all upside down. It won’t hurt the Republicans if it’s on the ballot.”

After heavy losses after Prop. 50 and in other states, GOP leaders hope to retain three seats in parliament they turned around in 2024 and won others. But Trump — and his push for national voter limits — threatens Republican success at the polls.

“It’s a loop that Republicans keep spinning, either fraud, or incompetence, or a waste of dollars,” Stutzman said. “It’s kind of a traditional Republican message.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.