Text of Article II, Section 3.1.

Section 3.1 [To be added to article II of constitution.]

(a) [1]The Secretary of State, and county elections officials, [i]shall each have the duty to maintain accurate voter registration lists, [ii]shall use best efforts to verify citizenship attestations using government data, and [iii]shall annually report what percentage of each county's voter rolls have been citizenship-verified.

(b) [1]Each time a voter casts a ballot in person in any election in the State, the voter shall present government-issued identification, or if voting by mail, the voter shall provide the last four digits of a unique identifying number from government-issued identification that matches the one designated by the voter for their voter registration. [2]The type of identification designated by each voter must be indicated in their voter registration record, noted on the mail ballot envelope provided to them, and available to them on request by phone or electronically. [3]Election officials shall only count a regular or provisional ballot after verifying the identity of the person voting pursuant to the requirements of this section, and verifying that the person has cast only one ballot in the election. [4]Government-issued identification means documentation that allows conclusive verification of the voter's identity. [5]Upon request by an eligible voter, the state shall provide, at no charge, a voter ID card for use in casting a ballot.

(c) [1]This section shall be self-executing. [2]The Legislature shall also promptly enact laws to implement this section, provide for voting by military and overseas voters consistent with federal law, and ensure that all State and local officials comply and support the compliance with this section. [3]Citizens may seek judicial review and remedy of the State's or any county's compliance with this section. [4]During every odd-numbered year, the State Auditor shall audit the State's and each county's compliance with this section and report its findings and recommendations for improving the integrity of elections to the public.

Editor's Note:

The above is the full text of the proposed amendment. We have added numbers, e.g., [1], at the beginning of each sentence for easy reference.

Sty;e Sheet

Friday, October 3, 2025

Does Initiative 25-0007A1 implement citizenship verification?

Does Initiative 25-0007A1 implement citizenship verification?

Article Series

  1. Does Initiative 25-0007A1 implement voter identification?
  2. Does Initiative 25-0007A1 implement citizenship verification?
  3. Does Initiative 25-0007A1 implement voter roll clean-up?

What parts of the text pertain to citizenship verification?

In subdivision (a), there are two provisions. The subjects are the Secretary of State and county elections officials. Clause (a)[1][ii] requires the subjects to attempt to verify citizenship. Clause (a)[1][iii] requires the subjects to report progress annually.

It's possible that (c)[4] relates to voter citizenship because it requires the State Auditor to "audit" and "report" on "compliance with this section".

A Word About Self-Executing

Fundamentally, self-executing refers to a constitutional provision that does not require another law, like a statute, to implement.

In (c)[1], it states that the entire section is self-executing. If it were, the statement would be superfluous. If it weren't, the statement cannot make it so. Its existence signals that it's not.

For comparison, Proposition 7 (1911) was almost completely self-executing. You can see the current versions of the self-executing provisions for initiatives and referenda in Article II, section 8, section 9, and section 10. Even so, over time, however, the Legislature has found it necessary to enact statutes to implement some of the procedures.

Are Any Voter Citizenship Provisions Self-Executing?

Reading clause (a)[1][ii], "shall use best efforts to verify citizenship attestations using government data," a fair question is what constitutes "best efforts?" Next comes what is "government data?" Does it include federal government data, state government data, or both? Does it include foreign government data? Does the state store any data that "verifies" citizenship? Do the subjects have the authority to access the "government data?" Clearly, the clause does not include any procedures nor any decision-making rules to use to make a concludion one way or another whether citizenship is verified.

Clause (a)[1][iii], "shall annually report what percentage of each county's voter rolls have been citizenship-verified" is much more specific, but still lacking. Does the Secretary of State do a separate report based on independent verification or does it just aggregate county reports? What is required to be reported? Is a report that states "Marin County 23.5%" sufficient? (That's all that's required by the language.) What happens if any of the subjects don't make a report? Is the report required for a calendar year, a fiscal year, or at any point in time the subjects individually decide?

Citizenship Verification Issues Not Addressed

Some charter cities already allow non-citizens to vote in some elections.

Clause (a)[1][iii] strongly implies that citizenship verification is a never-ending task in that 100% verification will never be attained. In fact, nothing in the text restricts the eligibility to vote to citizenship.

That's because it's presumed by the purposes section of Initiative 25-0007A1 which states "To enforce existing voter qualifications, including US citizenship, established by California's Constitution."

Here's what the constitution has "established" -- "A United States citizen 18 years of age and resident in this State may vote." (Article II, section 2(a). Notice the "may?" The California Supreme has already ruled that the our constitution does not prohibit non-citizens from voting. So it is not "established" that "only United States citizens" can vote in California. That appears to be a glaring "loophole." At least that's what supporters might call it.

There is nothing in Initiative 25-0007A1 that mandates "United States" citizenship verification. It says "to verify citizenship attestations." Without a statute directing the subjects, couldn't they just ignore it.

But there's more. Even if United States is presumed, and even if the provision were self-implementing, all it does is to direct "best efforts." Beyond that, even if the verification is done, it will just add (we presume, because it isn't specified) a Yes/No notation or a country notation, we presume (because it isn't specified), to the registration record. There is no mandate to the subjects on what course of action to take based on the verification. So guess what. They could presume whatever they want and comply yet foreigners could still receive a ballot and vote.

Conclusion

The citizen verification provisions are not self-executing. They are also not well thought out. While the purpose may be "to enforce" citizen-only voting, no new enforcement is implemented. If existing statutes don't prevent non-citizens from voting, then it is highly likely that nothing will change.

Overall, the section will have no effect on voter citizenship verification or on non-citizen voting.

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Copyright 2025, Richard Michael. All rights reserved.

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