The bill was a response to an effort by the Republican-leaning city of Huntington Beach, which approved a ballot initiative in March to require municipal election voters to show identification. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber quickly sued the city to prevent its implementation, claiming that the law’s implementation would hurt minorities.

“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 an April statement. “State election law already contains robust voter ID requirements with strong protections to prevent voter fraud, while ensuring that every eligible voter can cast their ballot without hardship. Imposing unnecessary obstacles to voter participation disproportionately burdens low-income voters, voters of color, young or elderly voters, and people with disabilities.”

Democratic state Sen. Dave Min, who introduced the bill signed by Newsom on Monday, argued that separate local laws would lead to widespread confusion.

“We cannot have 100 different charter cities making up 100 different sets of voting rules based on fringe conspiracy theories,” he said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

The move was met with outrage from conservatives and other prominent figures, who have long pushed for stricter voter ID laws.

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“Wow, it is now illegal to require voter ID in California! They just made PREVENTING voter fraud against the law,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X. “The Joker is in charge.”

“If the Dems win, they will force this on the whole country,” he added.