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A conservative enclave in Southern California is embroiled in a legal dispute with the state’s liberal authorities over its voter ID law that was passed by more than 50% of the city’s voters.
Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark told Fox News Digital the latest lawsuit from Sacramento authorities is just another targeted attack on the city’s values.
“I’m a person of color, I grew up in a low-income community in Los Angeles, and we all had IDs,” Van Der Mark told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday. “And one thing that is really frustrating is they’re saying, people like me are too ignorant or incapable of getting an ID, and that’s insulting.”
“This is definitely government overreach,” she said.
California’s Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber filed a lawsuit last week against the beach city – which is roughly 35 miles south of Los Angeles – challenging its voter ID law, Measure A, which amends the city’s charter to allow voter ID requirements by 2026. It also includes a requirement for additional in-person voting locations.
CALIFORNIA SUES HUNTINGTON BEACH OVER VOTER ID LAW BACKED BY MAJORITY OF RESIDENTS
Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark is defending the city’s voter ID law that voters passed in March 2024. (Getty Images)
“They’re telling us ‘it’s okay, we don’t need these measures of security,’ but we’re insisting on them,” Van Der Mark, elected in 2023, said. “So, they can sue us. We’re going to push forward and do what the people want us to do.”
In their lawsuit, Bonta and Weber argued that the city’s voter ID law “unlawfully conflicts and is preempted by state law.”
“The right to freely cast your vote is the foundation of our democracy and Huntington Beach’s voter ID policy flies in the face of this principle,” Bonta said in a statement.
He argued that state elections already contain “robust voter ID requirements with strong protections to prevent voter fraud.” He said…
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