Bill, which could shut down Huntington Beach’s voter ID requirements, passes California Assembly

Huntington Beach was full of election-related news this week, as the Nov. 5 general election nears.

The California Assembly passed Senate Bill 1174 on Tuesday, which would ban local governments from imposing voter identification requirements in municipal elections.

The bill, which passed 57-16, now moves to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom. It was passed by the state Senate in May.

The bill is directly at odds with Huntington Beach’s Measure A, which states the city could implement voter ID requirements beginning with the 2026 election. State Atty. General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber subsequently sued the city, after Measure A passed in March, stating that it conflicted with — and was preempted by — state law.

In a statement, state Sen. David Min (D-Irvine) said SB 1174, which he authored, makes it clear that election integrity and voter identification requirements are exclusively up to the state.

“We cannot have 100 different charter cities making up 100 different sets of voting rules, based on fringe conspiracy theories,” Min said. “I have repeatedly told the Huntington Beach City Council members pushing this issue that if they were to produce any evidence of widespread voter fraud, I would lead efforts to change California’s voter eligibility rules. They have not produced any such evidence. I am grateful to my colleagues for their overwhelming support for this bill, and I am hopeful that the governor will sign SB 1174 into law later this year.”

Huntington Beach City Atty. Michael Gates has argued that the city’s charter city status allows it to control local elections as it sees fit. He has also said that a new bill like SB 1174 wouldn’t be necessary if voter ID laws were already illegal, as Bonta asserted.

Former Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook speaks at a City Council meeting last year.

(Screen capture by Matt Szabo)

Judge agrees with former Huntington Beach mayor, strikes Measure U argument

An Orange County Superior Court Judge issued an order Wednesday striking an entire rebuttal paragraph from the Huntington Beach Measure U item on the ballot.

Judge Kimberly Knill agreed with the petitioner — former Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook — that an argument used by proponents of the proposed charter amendment should be removed.

Measure U is a proposed charter amendment that, if passed, would require Surf City voters to approve any zoning changes that an environmental impact report shows would present “significant and unavoidable” negative impacts to the environment.

In the argument supporting the measure, Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, Mayor Pro Tem Pat Burns and Councilman Casey McKeon said claims that the measure would result in “increased red tape and additional costs” were not true. They wrote that there was no additional cost to put zoning changes on the ballot, “just like there was no additional cost to the fruitful fight against the state over high-density housing mandates, the city for successfully withdrawing from the OCPA at no cost, and adopting a Voter ID requirement at no cost.”

But Knill ordered that paragraph deleted from the rebuttal argument.

Cook, who served two terms on the City Council and was mayor in 2002 and 2008, issued a statement following the judge’s ruling.

“Elected city leaders should not be allowed to lie to the public,” she said. “The claim by council members Van Der Mark, McKeon and Burns that their counterproductive actions — pushing risky and costly ballot measures, pursuing wasteful and costly litigation, imposing illegal Voter ID requirements — has no cost, is a lie. There would be huge costs to the city, just like the millions of dollars of unnecessary and wasteful attorneys’ fees and public expenses that they have already cost the city. Truthful ballot arguments are foundational to maintaining a fair democratic process, and I am grateful the court agreed.”

Council candidate’s ballot designation changed

Huntington Beach City Council candidate Chad Williams will not be able to use his proposed ballot designation of “Navy SEAL Speaker,” Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig Griffin ruled Thursday.

Griffin, in his minute order, struck “Navy SEAL” from the ballot designation while allowing Williams, a former Navy SEAL, to keep “speaker.”

The state ballot designation worksheet asks non-incumbent candidates to use their current principal profession(s), vocation(s), or occupation(s), in a maximum total of three words.

Huntington Beach community activist Victor Valladares brought the legal action.