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A statewide ballot measure in the upcoming Nov. 3 election could impact voting rights in Santa Clara County.
California Proposition 39 — the Voter Identification, Citizenship Verification, and Registered Voter List Administration Initiative — would require additional identification to vote in future elections. This could have a significant effect on Santa Clara County, where Hispanic and Latino residents make up more than 25% of the population and Asian residents make up 44% of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
If the proposition passes, a California resident voting by mail will have to provide the last four digits of their Social Security number, driver’s license or state ID on their ballot envelope. Residents voting in person will be required to show government-issued ID and election officials will be required to verify all voters are U.S. citizens. California residents currently must provide government-issued identification and their Social Security number to register to vote.
Jessica Paz-Cedillos, CEO of Mexican Heritage Plaza and a San José Spotlight columnist, said rather than making it more difficult, efforts should be made to ensure every eligible citizen can exercise their right to vote.
“In communities like East San Jose, we should be very cautious about creating new barriers between eligible voters and the ballot box,” Paz-Cedillos told San José Spotlight. “Citizenship is already required to vote and California already has a process for establishing a voter’s identity.”
Paz-Cedillos said adding another layer of identification doesn’t just create another requirement — it creates another opportunity for an eligible voter to be questioned, delayed or have their ballot rejected.
“That should concern all of us, particularly in immigrant working-class and multilingual communities,” she said.
Proposition 39 reflects what is happening on a national level with President Donald Trump’s administration trying to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship as well as a valid ID before registering to vote in a federal election. If passed, mail-in ballots wouldn’t be accepted except in cases of illness, disability, military service or travel. According to the White House website, “American citizens — and only American citizens — should decide American elections. The SAVE America Act will direct states to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls.”
Jenny Farrell, executive director of the League of Women Voters of California, said Proposition 39 could prevent eligible citizens from having their votes counted, including members of the Indian, Vietnamese and Latino communities. She said it’s especially concerning in California where the majority of residents vote by mail.
“Any time we add an additional step that a voter must successfully complete before their ballot can count, we create another potential point of failure,” she told San José Spotlight. “That is particularly concerning in a diverse community like San Jose.”
Shane Patrick Connolly, former chair of the Santa Clara County Republican Party, said Proposition 39 differs from the SAVE America Act.
“It doesn’t affect the things that we’ve done to make it easier to vote. What it affects are the things the Democratic leadership has done to make it easy to commit fraud,” Connolly told San José Spotlight. “It should be easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
He said the existing signature verification process is problematic because it’s set with a fairly high tolerance. He said about 100,000 ballots in the last election cycle were rejected because of signature mismatches and the Department of Motor Vehicles initially registered 18,000 ineligible people in California.
Connolly said all ballots need to be vetted, especially as ballots sent in error to homes could be used fraudulently. He said voter ID is not a new concept and doesn’t necessarily limit minorities from voting. Today, 36 states request or require voters to show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
One of the privileges of citizenship is being able to vote on leadership, Connolly said.
“We have elections that are decided by very few votes,” he said. “If those elections are being decided by people who aren’t eligible to vote, then the will of the voters is not being honored.”
Farrell said voter impersonation is extraordinarily rare.
“Research examining elections for this type of fraud has concluded that an American is more likely to be struck by lightning than to impersonate another voter at the polls,” Farrell said. “Our elections should be secure, and only eligible citizens should vote. But we can and already do accomplish those goals without putting unnecessary barriers between eligible voters and the ballot box.”
Bill James, chair of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, said the only purpose of Proposition 39 is to make it more difficult and less likely for citizens to vote.
“Lines will be longer, eligible voters will be turned away and some will choose not to vote by mail to avoid exposing their personal identifying information on the outside of their mail-in ballot envelope,” he told San José Spotlight. “The goal of such a law is not more secure voting, but instead less participation.”
This story was written by Lorraine Gabbert for San José Spotlight. The original version of this article can be viewed here.
Contact Lorraine Gabbert at lorrainegabbertsjspotlight@gmail.com.
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