Head Turning New CA Voter ID Commercial Uses AI Sydney Sweeney in Satirical Ad Targeting California's Voter ID Rules

New ad spotlights California's lack of routine ID checks as voters prepare for the election in November.

California's voter ID campaign is taking aim at the state's election rules with a new advertisement set to debut Tuesday featuring an AI-generated Sydney Sweeney lookalike, using satire to highlight how most Californians can vote without showing identification at the polls.

"California Doesn't Require ID to Vote," the campaign's advertisement said in on-screen text.

The video depicts a man speaking with an election worker inside a polling location before transitioning to a blonde woman resembling Sweeney being escorted away by two uniformed officers.

The advertisement concludes with the “Yes on Proposition 39” logo and a disclosure that its content was generated or substantially altered using artificial intelligence. The video does not establish that Sweeney participated in or endorsed the campaign.

According to the California Secretary of State, the state generally does not require voters to present identification at polling places, although exceptions exist for certain first-time voters.

Under Proposition 39, Californians would be required to present government-issued identification when voting in person, while mail-in voters would need to provide the last four digits of a designated government-issued identification number matching their registration records. The measure would also require efforts to verify voters' citizenship and provide free voter identification cards upon request.

Supporters of the initiative, including Transparency Foundation Executive Director Johnathan Hale, California Women's Leadership Association Executive Director Cynthia Kaui and Latino American Political Association President Ed Cervantes, emphasized election security in their official ballot rebuttal.

"Prop. 39 gives California a bipartisan solution for election security," the three supporters said.

The advertisement follows the campaign's September announcement of a statewide advertising purchase exceeding $7.5 million across broadcast, cable, streaming and digital platforms.

The latest Independent Voter Project poll, released Oct. 4, found 43% of California likely voters supported Proposition 39, compared with 40% opposed and 17% undecided. The survey included 2,906 likely voters and reported a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Opponents, including the ACLU of California and Common Cause, have raised concerns about barriers for eligible voters and potential privacy risks. The state's Legislative Analyst's Office estimated annual implementation costs could range from tens of millions to low hundreds of millions of dollars.

The advertisement also comes days after the Orange County District Attorney's Office announced that a Costa Mesa woman who registered her dog to vote had completed a plea agreement. Laura Lee Yourex, 64, pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor after prosecutors determined a ballot cast in her dog's name was counted in California's 2021 gubernatorial recall election. A second ballot was rejected in 2022. Her case was dismissed Oct. 13 after she fulfilled the agreement, which required her to pay $1,500 for anti-voter-fraud billboards.

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice announced Monday that federal authorities charged 28 noncitizens in California with election-related crimes, including alleged fraudulent voter registration and unlawful voting. Eleven were arrested as part of Operation Protect the Vote. All 28 are lawful permanent residents, and the charges remain allegations.

The arrests followed a separate federal lawsuit alleging more than 20,000 likely noncitizens were registered to vote in California, a claim state officials have disputed. The federal government is seeking to prevent ballots from suspected ineligible voters from being counted without citizenship verification.