What are the requirements to vote in the 2021 California Recall Election and what ID can I use?

The California Recall Election of Governor Gavin Newsom will take place 14 September, but some Californians are already casting their ballots. If you still haven’t voted and are unsure of what you will need to vote, here is some helpful information.

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What are the requirements to vote in California?

Those who choose to vote in California just need to meet a few simple requirements. They must be 18 years or older on Election Day, a US citizen or resident of California and they can’t be serving a felony conviction or found legally incompetent to vote. The state automatically registers California residents to vote on their 18th birthday through the state’s Motor Voter program, but you will want to check your registration status to make sure everything is in order (e.g., your voting address is up-to-date or if you finished serving a felony prison sentence you are re-regisitered).

Voters have until 15 days prior to Election Day to register or re-register to vote but you do have the option of same day registration in the 14 days leading up to and including Election Day at your county elections office, polling place, or vote center. If you need to register on Election Day, California provides a polling location lookup tool to find your polling place.

When you register to vote the application will ask you for your driver license, California identification card number, or the last four digits on your Social Security card. If you cannot provide any of these you will be assigned a voter ID number. In all cases for same day registration, your provisional ballot will not be counted until the county elections official validates your information.

What do I need to bring with me when I vote?

A voter in California generally is not required to show ID before casting their ballot to a polling place worker. However, those who registered by mail and did not provide one of the before mentioned forms of identification and are voting for the first time may be asked to show some form of identification at the polling place.

To be on the safe side you should bring with you, or include a copy of, if you use vote-by-mail to cast your ballot, one of the following acceptable forms of identification; passport, driver license, official state identification card, or student identification card showing your name and photograph, a copy of a recent utility bill, the sample ballot booklet you received from your county elections office or another document sent to you by a government agency.

California Secretary of State provides a full list of acceptable forms of voter identification you can present when you cast your ballot for the first time. You can also contact the Secretary of State's toll-free Voter Hotline at (800) 345- VOTE (8683) for more information.