State senators hear experts and advocates as debate over voter ID centers on access and accuracy

California election officials, national experts and voting-rights advocates told the California State Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments that the state already uses multiple verification steps at registration and when ballots are cast — but they disagreed on whether new photo‑ID rules are necessary or would unfairly limit access.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber told the committee that “there is a myth that we do not have voter ID” and described verification that begins at registration and continues through signature checks and routine list maintenance. Weber said the state verifies driver’s license numbers and state ID numbers against Department of Motor Vehicles records, matches Social Security digits with Social Security Administration records and assigns VoteCal unique identifiers when other data are not available. “California’s voter ID process begins at the time people register to vote,” Weber said.

The hearing brought sharply different perspectives. Trisha Weber, Santa Cruz County clerk‑registrar of voters, walked senators through county processes: how registration forms are scanned into VoteCal, how first‑time federal voter (FTFV) flags are set when a registration lacks a California driver’s license or Social Security digits, how signature verification is performed for returned vote‑by‑mail envelopes, and how county canvass procedures reconcile ballots and rosters. Trisha Weber said FTFV flags are rare in her county — 125…