Huntington Beach leaders are considering several charter amendments to put before voters during the next primary election, one of which could enhance voter ID laws in city elections.
While the details of what measures could appear on ballots in next year’s primary election in March aren’t set yet, Huntington Beach released a short summary of several proposals ahead of Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Aug. 1.
One proposal is a measure for Huntington Beach to add more local control over city elections through voter ID provisions for resident verification and the city would monitor ballot drop boxes.
Mayor Tony Strickland said the city is still going through the details, but said it’s important that people say who they are when voting and present a voter ID.
“Voter ID is a bill that I introduced every year I was in the legislature,” said Strickland, who was a state senator until 2012. “We are going to take a look to see if we can do that at the local level in Huntington Beach.”
Strickland said the charter amendment wouldn’t get rid of the Orange County Registrar of Voters’ involvement with city elections. Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Strickland pointed to how San Francisco has modified its code to allow non-citizen parents to vote in school board elections.
Fullerton College political science professor Jodi Balma questioned what problem Huntington Beach is trying to solve, saying it sounded like voter fraud and that has been debunked.
“The Orange County Registrar of Voters has done audits that people are who they say they are,” Balma said. “I don’t know what problem Huntington Beach believes they are solving.”
Other proposals include changing Huntington Beach to a two-year budget cycle from yearly, as Strickland had suggested at a previous council meeting, and changing the election cycle for the city treasurer and city clerk to align with the gubernatorial…
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