Bonta asks appeals court to speed up state’s challenge to Huntington Beach voter ID requirement

Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta asked appellate court justices Thursday to speed up their challenge to Huntington Beach’s new voter identification requirement, slated to go into effect in 2026.

The attorney general’s office last month appealed a lower court dismissal of a lawsuit against the city over the voter ID requirement. But that appeal involved a narrower legal question of the timeliness of the legal challenge, which an Orange County Superior Court judge found was not yet ripe.

Now the attorney general’s office and Secretary of State Shirley Weber want appellate justices to decide the merits of the entire case to speed up the legal process. If the attorney general had prevailed on the appeal filed last month, it would have likely led to the case being sent back to the lower court judge to decide the merits.

“Secretary Weber and I continue to believe that Huntington Beach’s Measure A is unlawful,” Bonta said in a statement. “With preparations for the 2026 elections beginning late this year, time is of the essence.”

City officials have maintained, as they have in other legal disputes with the state, that they have separate authority as a charter city. But state officials say state law supersedes any city ordinances that come into conflict.

The state’s writ argues that the state lacks “an adequate, speedy remedy at law.”

The writ also argues that the legal question is significant in that it involves the right to vote and the “constitutional separation of powers between charter cities and the state.”

Also, the city’s requirement runs counter to a new state law prohibiting local voter ID rules, the attorney general’s office argued in the writ.

“Fourth and finally, resolving this case now serves judicial economy by avoiding a multiplicity of appeals raising the same issue,” the state argues in the writ.

Voters approved Measure A in March, 53.4% to 46.6%.