{"id":1529434,"date":"2025-04-09T16:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T20:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1529434"},"modified":"2025-04-09T16:10:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T20:10:00","slug":"judge-rejects-californias-attempt-to-block-citys-voter-id-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/judge-rejects-californias-attempt-to-block-citys-voter-id-law\/1529434\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Rejects California’s Attempt To Block City’s Voter ID Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Judge Rejects California’s Attempt To Block City’s Voter ID Law<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A California judge rejected<\/a> the state\u2019s attempts to shut down a conservative coastal city\u2019s voter ID law April 7, ruling the city did not violate state elections law when voters passed the provision last year.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

In his ruling early Monday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Nico Dourbetas denied a request by California Attorney General Rob Bonta to invalidate Huntington Beach\u2019s charter amendment, passed<\/a> in March 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no showing that a voter identification requirement compromises the integrity of a municipal election,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Dourbetas wrote in his decision Monday. \u201cMunicipal election results do not lack integrity because only residents of a municipality who are eligible to vote participated in the election.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge also found the city\u2019s charter amendment does not violate the right to vote and does not reduce the integrity of the electoral process.<\/p>\n

Huntington Beach City Attorney Michael Gates celebrated the ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations to the City of Huntington Beach on today\u2019s court victory upholding the City\u2019s Voter ID law,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Gates posted<\/a> on X.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won before in 2024, and the city just won again!!! This Court ruling means the City beat the State of California \u2026 Again!! Fights produce wins. Keep fighting!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Bonta filed the lawsuit<\/a> on behalf of Secretary of State Shirley Weber in April 2024, alleging the voter ID law violated state election law. The original lawsuit was thrown out<\/a> in November by Dourbetas, who ruled the state did not provide sufficient evidence.<\/p>\n

The state appealed<\/a> in January. <\/strong>The state\u2019s Fourth Appellate District reversed the judge\u2019s decision, saying the court\u2019s \u201cconclusion that this matter is not ripe for decision is problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling sent the matter back to the judge.<\/p>\n

Bonta and Weber also filed for a writ of mandate<\/a> in February, asking the court to resolve the lawsuit on its merits instead of waiting for the appeal ruling, which was the case decided Monday.<\/p>\n

Bonta and Weber also plan to appeal<\/a> the latest ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet again, we believe the Orange County Superior Court got it wrong,\u201d <\/strong><\/em>Bonta said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier this year, the California Fourth District Court of Appeal wrote that Huntington Beach\u2019s argument that \u2018it had a constitutional right to regulate its own municipal elections free from state interference \u2026 is \u2026 problematic.\u2019 We agree,\u201d Bonta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain confident that [the voter ID law] will ultimately be struck down.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta attends a press conference in Los Angeles on April 15, 2024. Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber plan to appeal the April 7, 2025, ruling. John Fredricks\/The Epoch Times<\/p>\n

Weber alleged the city\u2019s law will exclude voters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe court\u2019s order is in direct conflict with California election laws and will result in disenfranchising California voters,\u201d Weber said in a statement.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAs California\u2019s chief elections officer, I will continue to advocate for this state and its eligible voters by partnering with Attorney General Bonta to appeal this decision.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The local voter ID law is one of many that have cropped up across the United States in recent years. Most recently, a referendum was approved in Wisconsin on April 1 to add a voter ID requirement to the state\u2019s constitution, solidifying a rule in place since 2011.<\/p>\n

Thirty-six other states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls, according<\/a> to the National Conference of State Legislatures.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bills to clarify that only U.S. citizens may vote are pending in 12 states this year, the organization also reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump also signed an executive order<\/a> March 25 to overhaul election rules on voter registration requirements, election law enforcement, electronic voting system security, voting deadlines, and foreign interference in elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 04\/09\/2025 – 12:10<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/judge-rejects-californias-attempt-block-citys-voter-id-law<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judge Rejects California’s Attempt To Block City’s Voter ID Law Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times, A California judge rejected the state\u2019s attempts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1529435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1529434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1529434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1529435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1529434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1529434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1529434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}