Logo courtesy of Reform California with Carl DeMaio

CALIFORNIA (MPG) - After a nearly five-month statewide signature drive powered by more than 18,000 grassroots volunteers, Reform California Chairman and Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, along with fellow proponents of the California Voter ID Initiative, officially submits over 1.3 million signatures this week across all 58 counties — triggering the formal validation process required to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot.

To mark the milestone, campaign leaders hold signature submission rallies in five major media markets across the state, underscoring the broad geographic and bipartisan support behind the initiative.

The submission of the signatures begins a county-by-county verification process that must be completed by May. Once certified, the initiative appears on the November 2026 statewide ballot.

The measure amends the California Constitution to require voter ID when casting a ballot, require election officials to verify the citizenship of registered voters, and maintain accurate voter rolls.

Reform California Chairman and Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, an official proponent of the initiative, issued the following statement:

"The California Voter ID Initiative is a common-sense and bipartisan way to restore the trust and confidence all voters should have in our election system.

Our measure simply holds government officials accountable to maintain accurate voter lists and verify the identity of individuals casting ballots in our elections. Other states that have implemented Voter ID programs have seen an increase in participation in their elections, including an increase in minority voting.

Divisive politicians with partisan agendas will try to politicize this effort, but the fact remains that over 70 percent of voters, including a majority of Democrat voters, support the initiative, and nearly half of the 1.35 million signatures we collected came from Democrats and Independents.

We look forward to expanding this bipartisan reform movement as we enter the passage phase of the campaign."