California Is Blocking a Federal Audit of Its Voter Rolls
California allows first-time voters to register using forms of ID that most Americans would find surprising, including:
- Gym membership card
- Employer ID card
- Credit or debit card
- Prescription drug label
- Insurance card (California even provides free health coverage to undocumented immigrants)
Full list here: https://sos.ca.gov/elections/hava-id-standards
This is all permitted when a voter doesn’t provide a Social Security number or driver’s license at registration. This policy deserves much closer scrutiny. I also have serious concerns about how California maintains its voter rolls, don’t you??
There are real questions about whether the state is promptly removing deceased voters, people who have moved out of state, and individuals convicted of felonies that disqualify them from voting. On top of that, California permits third-party ballot harvesting with very few restrictions. This makes it extremely difficult to verify who actually received, filled out, and submitted each ballot.
For over a year now, the Department of Justice has been trying to conduct a federal audit of California’s voter rolls. Federal law clearly gives the Attorney General the authority to review state voter files and ensure that only eligible U.S. citizens are voting in federal elections.
The DOJ sent California a letter outlining this legal authority. California refused to comply, hiding behind state privacy laws—an argument that doesn’t hold up, because those laws don’t override federal authority in this area. The federal government has now sued California in federal court, and the case is currently before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. If California truly wants voters to trust our elections, it should open its records instead of fighting tooth and nail to keep them closed.
If there is no fraud going on, why are they afraid to let the DOJ investigate the voter rolls?
California deserves clean, secure, and transparent elections — nothing less.
Burton Brink
