Huntington Beach councilmembers pledge to fight state’s lawsuit over city’s voter ID measure

Huntington Beach elected officials on Thursday said the city will fight the state attorney general’s new lawsuit attempting to block the city from implementing voter ID in future elections.

Voters in March approved adding language to the city’s charter that said the city may ask for proof of identification when voting at in-person polling locations in city elections beginning in 2026.

The measure was put on ballots by the council’s four-member conservative majority. The state attorney general on Monday, less than two weeks after the city certified the election results, filed its lawsuit that says the new voter ID law conflicts with state law and seeks a court order to invalidate it.

The measure was approved by 53.4% of voters in the March primary election.

“We will defend the city from attacks by the state,” City Attorney Michael Gates said in a Thursday press conference at City Hall. “We will defend the will of the people.”

Gates, whose position is elected by voters, along with Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark and councilmembers Tony Strickland and Pat Burns, spoke at the news conference, vowing to fight the case.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called Huntington Beach “not law-abiding” and said the voter ID measure was “intentionally brazen.” The state sued the city last year for not complying with state housing law to plan for more housing.

Van Der Mark said the state is “trying to sue us into submission.”

“This is pure and simple bullying on behalf of Sacramento,” she added.

Councilmember Natalie Moser, who opposed Measure A, watched the event and said that it should not have been held, since the City Council hasn’t voted to take action.

“You have to still get direction from the council to be able to proceed,” Moser said. “I imagine they know what that proceeding will be because they can count to four, but that has not occurred and this should not have happened.”

Supporters of the city’s conservative council majority were seated at the event and cheered during remarks. Some residents gathered and held up signs in opposition to the city’s voter ID efforts.

The voter ID measure says the city “may” implement it in 2026, but members of the City Council’s majority have said it’s their intention to do so.

Moser said she doesn’t believe voter ID will ever be implemented in Huntington Beach.

“It’s a bunch of flag waving and hand waving to get more press to get more people to notice them and to move out of Huntington Beach and beyond,” Moser said.

Bonta said Monday that there’s no evidence of voter fraud in Huntington Beach. He and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who oversees elections across California, warned the city last fall they would take action if the measure was pursued.

Van Der Mark and Strickland called on other cities in the state to join Huntington Beach as it opposes state leadership on a number of issues.

“We are going fight to move forward the will of the people of Huntington Beach,” Strickland said.

 

Source: Orange County Register