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California’s Democrat Attorney-General has been accused of making a dishonest, last minute attempt to thwart a state voter ID proposal going to voters in the fall, leading to allegations of election rigging.
The backers of Proposition 39, which would require voters to provide government ID at the polls or the last four digits of a ID number if voting by mail, claim that Attorney General Rob Bonta changed the ballot measure’s description in a malicious attempt to ensure the proposal didn’t have a chance on election day.
“This is blatant manipulation and rigging right in the middle of the election season,” fumed Republican Assemblyman David Tangipa, one of the first to spot the changes.
Bonta’s office is required to write a title and summary for ballot measures, and his office took steps in September of last year to describe the measure ahead of signatures being gathered to help the measure qualify for November’s election.
Republicans are accusing Bonta of trying to “rig” the election by portraying the ballot measure negatively.
In the attorney general’s original description, Prop 39 is a measure that “establishes additional voter identification and citizenship verification requirements.”
However, the description revealed Tuesday in the voter information guide is vastly different. Bonta now describes Prop 39 as a measure that “prohibits citizens from voting unless they present government-issued identification.”
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Supporters of the voter ID ballot measure were furious after they spotted the changes in the description of their proposal in the newly released voter information guide for the November election that will be mailed to all voters.
The new summary of the voter ID proposal is also different and framed more negatively. It states the measure can “prohibit” voting and “invalidate” mail ballots without proper identification, whereas the original summary simply listed IDs as requirements.
“California politicians know that a super-majority of California voters support Prop 39’s bipartisan solution for Voter ID – so now they are corruptly trying to rig the election by putting a biased and dishonest title on this common-sense measure,” said Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, the chief backer of the ballot measure.
The new summary also omits the requirement for the state to provide voter ID cards on request.
Prop. 39 comes amid increasing scrutiny about California’s elections and the Trump administration’s battle against mail-in ballots, which the state’s election system has wholeheartedly embraced.
The voter ID measure qualified for the November ballot in April with more than 962,000 signatures and will become law if California voters approve it. In addition to the ID requirements, it would require election officials to report how much citizenship statuses are verified and require audits for compliance.
Critics are warn Bonta’s changes put the voter ID in peril.
“Rob Bonta couldn’t stop 1.3 million Californians from putting Prop 39 on the ballot,” Rep. James Gallagher (R-Yuba City).
“So what does he do? He changes the ballot title to manipulate how voters see voter ID, sabotaging it before Californians ever get a fair vote.”
The California Secretary of State deferred on commenting and referred The Post to Bonta’s office, which had not publicly addressed the changes prior to this story.
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After multiple attempts for comment, the attorney general’s office pointed The Post to a state law that says “the ballot title and summary may differ from the legislative, circulating, or other title and summary of the measure.”
“It is not uncommon for the ballot title and summary to change from the circulating version — and this year, all nine voter-proposed initiatives had changes,” Bonta’s office told The Post.
“Our office properly exercised its discretion to provide further clarity to voters about Prop 39’s chief purpose and points for the ballot stage.”
This isn’t the first time the attorney general’s power over ballot descriptions have caused controversy.
Former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate in the November runoff for governor, also was accused of unfairly describing ballot measures that favor his party and its allies.
State Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) has tried for years to push legislation to shift the ballot-writing authority from the attorney general to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Labor unions and a Democrat-controlled Legislature have opposed and stopped such efforts. They argue the current structure is better because the attorney general’s office is democratically elected, and the office has the resources and experience to do such work.
“The legal team at the attorney general’s office is well-equipped to do this and has done a fine job,” Terry Brennan, of SEIU California, said at a legislative hearing in April.
“When a ballot language is prepared within a partisan office, it becomes vulnerable to politicization,” Niello countered.
“This can result in wording that can be misleading, or perhaps incomplete, perhaps creating confusion, but if particularly slanted, creating mistrust in the system.”
