Voters would be required to present additional identifying information to elections officials each time they vote.
READING THIS ENTRYElections & ballots
How to interpret this record
California Proposition 39 2026: What a Yes or No Vote Means
A ballot brings together several decisions that share an election date but may follow different rules. The office, jurisdiction and stage of the election tell you what each choice means.
Start with the office and the place
An election record describes a particular office or question in a particular jurisdiction. A statewide contest is different from a congressional district, a city council seat or a school district. An address can help connect those boundaries, but a ZIP code alone is not a guarantee of one exact ballot. Use the election authority’s own ballot lookup to confirm the final choices for a voter.
Separate a filing from a ballot appearance
A campaign-finance filing tells you that a financial record exists. It does not, by itself, establish that the person qualified for the November ballot. A primary participant, withdrawn candidate and certified general-election candidate can all leave public records. Read the election stage and the source label before treating a directory as a current candidate list. Registered write-in candidates are a separate category whose rules depend on the jurisdiction.
Read the full elections & ballots guide →PROP39
California · November 3, 2026 · upcoming
PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.
Invalidates mail ballots that do not have last four digits of designated government-issued identification number written on envelope. Prohibits in-person voting without presenting government-issued identification.
What your vote means
Yes or No, in the state's words
A voter’s identity would continue to be established with the voter’s signature.
What the state says it may cost or change
Costs of between tens of millions of dollars and low hundreds of millions of dollars each year to implement new voting requirements.
Read the full analysis
The Quick Reference Guide does not publish a separate current-law sentence for this proposition. Electionpedia does not infer one. The Legislative Analyst's analysis in the official proposition PDF explains the baseline law.
Open official analysis ↗Qualified through petition signatures
The official guide labels this measure as put on the ballot by Petition Signatures. This is a source classification, not an Electionpedia judgment.
Not available before Election Day
This election is upcoming. Electionpedia will not show a blank or zero as a result.
Attributed positions
Who the official quick guide lists
The Transparency Foundation; Latino American Political Assn; Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn; CA Women’s Leadership Assn
ACLU California Action; Common Cause; League of Women Voters of California
Arguments are the opinions of their authors and have not been checked for accuracy by an official agency.