The California Attorney General’s Office on Thursday, Feb. 13, asked an appeals court to move quickly and decide to have Huntington Beach’s voter ID law overturned, warning that voters will suffer harm if the case isn’t resolved before next year’s elections.
The state’s legal arm filed a petition for a writ of mandate with the California Fourth District Court of Appeal. The filing asks for a judge to “take the extraordinary step” to resolve the whole case on the merits now, raising concerns that the city’s voter ID law could soon disrupt the 2026 elections, the first year the city can implement the law Huntington Beach voters approved last year.
“With preparations for the 2026 elections beginning late this year, time is of the essence,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “The right to vote is sacred, and we will not allow Huntington Beach to disenfranchise Californians at the polls.”
Bonta said people’s identities are verified when they register to vote. Huntington Beach has not cited any evidence that fraudulent voting regularly occurs or has ever compromised the outcome of a city election, according to the state attorney general’s office.
The voter ID lawsuit is one of many legal battles between the state and Huntington Beach quarreling over local authority.
Huntington Beach voters in March approved Measure A, which included adding language to the city charter that would allow the city to start requiring identification in city elections in 2026.
The state then sued the city to get the law invalidated, but an Orange County judge in December dismissed the case, ruling it was not “ripe for adjudication” and that the charter’s language currently did not conflict with state elections law.
The attorney general’s office in January filed a notice of appeal in the case to get the California Fourth District Court of Appeal to weigh in.
The attorney general’s office has warned that the voter ID law will throw upcoming elections “into chaos and undermine the right to vote.”
The petition filed Thursday argues, “The court should settle this case now, so voters know what to expect in the 2026 elections and beyond,” adding it would help avoid numerous appeals down the line.
The state has argued that the voter ID law already violated elections law when it was passed, but Gov. Gavin Newsom also signed into law last year SB 1174, which further said no governing body can require voter identification at voting centers.
The city’s elected officials have not established specifics for how the law would work in practice, but have said they intend to implement voter ID in the 2026 elections.
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