As Huntington Beach voters prepare to mark ballots in March’s primary on a proposed charter amendment that could add voter ID requirements in city elections, uncertainty lingers for what will come of the measure if it were to pass.
That uncertainty ranges from whether it would force the city to run its own municipal elections, and not use the Orange County Registrar of Voters to consolidate elections, to who would decide how, or if, the new requirements are implemented. The measure doesn’t explicitly lay out how the city would enact the new requirements.
“There’s a lot of details that will be flushed out as this goes forward,” said Councilmember Tony Strickland, who helped create the amendments and is campaigning for them.
But the city doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel and can model implementing voter ID on other states that already require it, he said.
Voters in March will actually be deciding on three amendments: Measures A, B and C.
Measure A would allow the city to implement voter identification requirements and ballot drop box monitoring and would require a minimum number of polling places throughout the city, yet it doesn’t mandate the changes. Measure B etches deeper into stone the city’s flag policy and would require unanimous City Council approval to fly new flags. Measure C mostly proposes administrative changes, including shortening council vacancy appointments, moving the city to a two-year budget cycle and allowing the mayor to cancel council meetings.
The election is effectively a test of what level of voter support exists for some of the most contested policies the council’s conservative majority of Strickland, Pat Burns, Casey McKeon and Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark is pushing for. Three councilmembers, Rhonda Bolton, Dan Kalmick and Natalie Moser, opposed putting the three charter amendments to voters.
Protect Huntington Beach, a political group largely led by former councilmembers that’s campaigning against the measures, is asking residents to vote down on all three, calling them solutions in search of a problem.
The most scrutinized proposal is one that would let the city, as soon as 2026, ask people to show a government-issued ID when they vote in municipal elections at city polling places; that includes voting for the seven councilmembers and the city attorney, city clerk and city treasurer positions.
Measure A’s supporters say it’s about strengthening faith in city elections and protecting them from potential fraud.
“Huntington Beach voters deserve the right to know that our elections are secure. It is crucial for our democracy that voters have faith in our election results,” Strickland and Van Der Mark wrote in their ballot arguments.
Strickland, in an interview, pointed to how both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have contested election results as part of the need for voter ID to give people faith in elections.
The California attorney general and secretary of state in September warned Huntington Beach that implementing voter ID conflicts with state law, which they said requires people voting in person to provide their name and address only.
A resident tried to get a judge to block the measure from appearing on the ballot, with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union, but an Orange County judge in December denied that attempt, saying courts generally don’t do pre-election reviews of ballot contents.
Mark Bixby, who publishes the Surf City Sentinel Facebook page and filed that lawsuit, said it is still ongoing and he intends to prevent voter ID from ever being implemented.
Opponents argue there’s been no evidence of voter fraud and call it a wasteful measure that could be costly to the city if it were to run its own elections.
“Our elections are already secure, overseen by the award-winning, ISO-certified Orange County Registrar of Voters,” Bolton, Moser and Kalmick wrote in opposition. “(Measure A) misleads voters, threatening this security by potentially forcing Huntington Beach to conduct its own elections, a task for which the city is unprepared and lacks infrastructure. This could cost millions, an unnecessary financial burden.”
Kalmick said the measures were poorly drafted and rushed, leaving many unknowns about what happens next should they pass.
“The county has to follow state law, and the people that are in charge of elections for the state of California say you can’t do this,” Kalmick said. “So, the county is likely not going to want to get sued and would likely just kick us loose.”
Sunny Han, the city’s chief financial officer, told the council in September that the current estimated cost to hold an election is $1.3 million to $1.65 million, which includes one-time expenses for buying equipment and recurring costs.
City Clerk Robin Estanislau said previously there is nothing within the city’s charter that mandates the city must consolidate with the county for elections.
Bob Page, who leads the county’s Registrar of Voters Office, declined to comment on the proposed amendments, writing in an email that he must remain impartial regarding any matter on the ballot and can’t make a statement that could influence a voter’s decision.
Strickland hopes Huntington Beach will be able to work with the Registrar of Voters, and “it’s less desired” if the city were to run its own elections, but, “having faith in your election outcomes in a democracy — can’t put a price tag on that.”
Vote by mail would still exist if Measure A passes, Strickland said.
Measure B focuses on the city’s flag policy, requiring unanimous votes by the City Council to fly new flags not already designated. Under Measure B, the city could fly flags representing the United States, the state, county, city, military flags and the Olympic flag.
During a campaign event against the measures, former Mayor Connie Boardman said it was trying to make it as hard as possible to fly the Pride Flag at City Hall.
Burns, who’s led the charge for the amendment, has said the flags the city flies should represent all residents.
“It’s to protect the abuse of display and keep it simple that we are not playing identity politics,” Burns said previously. “Government flags are what we put on our properties.”
Council appointments to fill vacancies on the dais would no longer be for the remainder of the term, under Measure C, but instead would only be until the next general municipal election. Measure C would also move the city to a two-year budget cycle and allow the mayor to cancel council meetings.
Two-year budget cycles give the city more stability, Strickland said.
The most concerning part for opponents of Measure C is giving the mayor the ability to cancel council meetings.
“Well, when you cancel a meeting you have many people, including consultants, but just ordinary people who want to speak to council. And so suddenly, they find the meeting they plan to attend is to be canceled and by one person alone,” former Mayor Shirley Dettloff said. “That just doesn’t seem right to do it in that way.”
The Registrar of Voters will begin mailing ballots to registered voters on Feb. 5. The first vote centers will open on Feb. 24 and more will open as election day on March 5 draws nearer. For more information visit ocvote.gov.
