Eight States Approve Voter ID and Citizenship Ballot Measures in 2026 Midterms
While Democrats made major gains in the November 2026 midterm elections, voters in eight states approved ballot measures that either require voter identification or explicitly limit voting to U.S. citizens. The results show continued public support for basic election safeguards even in a cycle that favored the other party at the federal and statewide levels.
The Eight States
According to Ballotpedia and contemporaneous reporting in Calirednews.com, the measures broke down as follows:
Citizenship requirements (only U.S. citizens may vote):
Alaska (Ballot Measure 3, initiated statute)
Arkansas (constitutional amendment)
Kansas (constitutional amendment)
South Dakota (constitutional amendment)
West Virginia (constitutional amendment, passed with nearly 80 percent support)
Voter ID constitutional requirements:
Nevada (Question 7)
North Carolina (extends photo ID requirement to mail ballots)
Ohio (places existing photo ID rules into the state constitution)
Oklahoma voters had already approved a voter ID constitutional amendment in an August special election, bringing the total of states that strengthened ID or citizenship rules via the ballot in 2026 to nine when that earlier vote is included. Arizona and California rejected combined citizenship-and-ID measures; Colorado rejected a mail-ballot ID number requirement.
Nevada’s passage of Question 7 is especially notable. The measure requires photo identification for in-person voting and the last four digits of a driver’s license or Social Security number (or a clerk-issued number) for mail ballots. It passed with roughly 62 percent of the vote after having received more than 73 percent in 2024; Nevada requires initiated constitutional amendments to win in two successive even-year elections. Ballotpedia noted that Nevada thereby became the eighth state with a pre-election divided government to adopt a voter ID law.
37 states now require (or request) some form of identification for voters to cast a ballot in person at the polls.
This is the updated figure from Ballotpedia following the 2026 elections. Of those 37:
25 states require photo identification (with certain exceptions).
12 states require identification but do not explicitly require a photo.
The remaining 13 states (plus the District of Columbia) generally do not require voters to present identification at the polls on Election Day. (Federal law still requires first-time voters who registered by mail to show ID in every state.)
In California, election laws generally preclude poll workers from asking for ID and require it only in very narrow circumstances related to voters who require assistance in voting. If a voter voluntarily elects to show their ID, poll workers are not barred from looking at it, but they are trained not to ask for it and to tell voters it is not required.
Local Context: Shasta County’s Measure B and the November 9 Court Ruling
Shasta County voters have repeatedly backed similar reforms. In the June 2, 2026 primary, Measure B—the “Voter ID, Hand-Counted Ballots, and Absentee Voting Limits Initiative”—passed with approximately 56 percent of the vote. It would have amended the county charter to require government-issued photo identification both to register and to vote in person, eliminate most vote-by-mail and early voting, limit voting primarily to a single Election Day (with narrow exceptions for the infirm, military, and overseas citizens), mandate hand-counting of ballots, and create a separate county voter registration system disconnected from the statewide database.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber sued the county shortly after the election. Shasta County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Hanna issued a preliminary injunction in August 2026 (later upheld by the Third District Court of Appeal), preventing Measure B from applying to the November election. On November 9, 2026, Judge Hanna issued a final permanent ruling striking down the measure in full.
The court found that key provisions were preempted by state election law, that any non-conflicting parts could not be severed and saved, and that election administration and election integrity are matters of statewide concern. Charter-county status, the judge held, does not give Shasta County authority to write its own rules that conflict with state statutes.
In the ruling, Judge Hanna wrote: “Shasta County’s status as a charter county does not entitle it to enact invalid legislation simply because some in this community do not agree with the existing law.”
Secretary of State Weber responded that “any way you slice it, Measure B was a colossal waste of time and taxpayer funds” and that proponents “knew it was unlawful but submitted it to the voters anyway.” The Shasta County Board of Supervisors had earlier voted against defending the measure. The November 9 decision ensures Measure B will not be implemented.
Statewide, California’s own Proposition 39, which would have required government-issued identification to vote in person and an identification number for mail registration, was rejected. Reform California and its plain-English voter guide supported the measure; CaliRed News (Mike Hernandez) carried those recommendations and argued that voters should not be misled by ballot language that obscures the actual policy.
What the Results Show
The pattern is consistent with earlier cycles. Since 2018, multiple states have added “citizens only” language to their constitutions or statutes, and voter ID rules continue to expand where voters are given a direct say. In 2026 the public again chose tighter rules in the states where the questions reached the ballot, even as national and many statewide races went the other direction. For Shasta County residents who supported Measure B, the court decision underscores a familiar tension: local majorities can be overridden when the state claims exclusive authority over election procedures.
The eight (or nine, counting Oklahoma) states that approved these measures in 2026 join a growing list of jurisdictions that have decided, by direct vote of the people, that citizenship and identity verification belong in the rules that govern who may cast a ballot.
(Images used under fair use for news reporting and commentary on public election processes. Sources include public-domain or news-agency photographs of polling places and voter ID notices.)
