Local voters react to ballot measure that would strengthen voter ID requirements 

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) - California voters could be deciding new voter identification requirements in November. The ballot initiative has received enough signatures to appear on the November ballot. If approved, voters would be required to show a government-issued ID every time they go to the polls. Mail-in ballots would need the last-four digits of an ID or driver’s license. 

"I think the idea of having ID is a common sense measure. It absolutely makes sense. It's smart until you really look at the unintended consequences of it," says local voter Geoffery Corbin. He works with senior citizens at the Cathedral City Senior Center and says seniors could face difficulties voting if the measure is passed.

Currently, voters only need to provide an ID and Social Security number during voter registration. However, according to the California Secretary of State, if you don't have either an ID or Social Security number, you can still register and will be assigned a unique identifier which will be matched with DMV records or Social Security administration records. 

Becki Robinson has been registering people to vote for the past 8 years. "Many senior citizens do not have driver's licenses anymore and never bothered to get an ID card because they really don't need it and they don't have a passport because they're not traveling. And it's not just seniors. It's also the disabled," Robinson says.

Proponents of the ballot measure say requiring ID at the polls will ensure election integrity and don't think showing ID at the polls should be an issue. A poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that 43% of registered voters are concerned about voter fraud and 64% cited voter suppression as a major concern. 

"I think it's a great idea just to have no fraud. You know, this is my ID. This is who I am, you know? So I have no problem with that," says local voter Stephen Wallace.