With every new law passed in the state of California recently, the political imbalance on display becomes more and more pronounced. Governor Gavin Newsom turned up the temperature by a few more degrees this week with a new law dealing with voter registration and how voters are vetted at their polling places. The city of Huntington Beach passed a voter ID amendment in March making it a requirement for voters to present voter identification at their polling place demonstrating that they are citizens and eligible to vote in the election. That may seem like a reasonable enough request, but this is California we're talking about. Newsom has now signed a law making it illegal to require voter identification, preferring to keep everything on "the honor system." How do you suppose that's going to work out? (Fox News)

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed legislation banning local governments from requiring voters to present an ID at the ballot box in order to cast a vote – a move which sparked backlash from Elon Musk, who branded Newsom as "The Joker."

The bill was passed by the California Assembly in August after being introduced earlier in the year by state Sen. David Min, a Democrat. Newsom signed the bill into law on Thursday.

The new law was in response to the beachside city of Huntington Beach passing a voter ID amendment, Measure A, in March with the support of a majority of residents which would allow the city to require voter identification, increase in-person voting sites, and monitor ballot drop boxes in local elections. The measure won at the polls in March with 53.4% approval, county election data shows.

As noted above, Elon Musk quickly jumped on this startling news, comparing Newsome to The Joker, a Batman reference.

Wow, it is now illegal to require voter ID in California!

They just made PREVENTING voter fraud against the law.

The Joker is in charge. https://t.co/rVNwsh3jqt

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2024

The comparison to The Joker really isn't far off the mark here. In fact, we might call this move unprecedented were it not for the large number of other Democrats hatching similar plots all around the country. This is not to say that reasonable restrictions can't be placed on rules establishing the procedures that local precincts put in place for voters to sign in and cast their ballots. Excessively cumbersome rules that wind up disenfranchising legitimate, legal voters can and should be set aside.

But this new California law takes that theory and turns it on its head. Rather than defining certain minimum requirements for aspiring voters to meet, this law bans an entire class of requirements, none of which should impose any sort of impediment to legal voting. Like all states, California requires people to show their identification when conducting financial transactions at banks, when applying for certain public services or benefits, and when attempting to board an airplane. Nobody seems to have any problem with those restrictions.

Arguments against voter ID based on the theory of a poll tax fall flat as well. Every eligible voter is able to obtain a free voter ID simply by showing any of a number of ubiquitous documents ranging from a utility bill to a postal change of address card. Helpful community groups will frequently offer free rides to and from the DMV or wherever else you need to go to obtain your ID. Nobody's rights are being infringed.

But by banning ID requirements altogether, the welcome mat has been rolled out for anyone interested in voting illegally. The message being sent couldn't be more clear. The only people opposed to voter ID requirements are those who are most likely to benefit from having noncitizens vote. The Democrats have been hard at work for some time now attempting to rush as many "undocumented" migrants into the country as possible. Does anyone still believe that this is all happening by coincidence? Pull the other one, liberals. It's got bells on it.