California AG Rob Bonta rigs language in Voter ID initiative
California Attorney General Rob Bonta used the power of his office Tuesday to put a political thumb on the scale against Proposition 39.He did it by dramatically rewriting the official title and summary of the voter ID initiative after Californians had already qualified it for the November ballot.When supporters of Prop.39 began collecting signatures last year, Bonta gave the initiative a straightforward official title:“ESTABLISHES ADDITIONAL VOTER IDENTIFICATION AND CITIZENSHIP VERIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.”More than 1.3 million Californians signed petitions carrying that description.But when the state’s draft voter guide went on public display Tuesday, they saw something very different.Here’s the new title:“PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.”The revised summary likewise emphasizes that mail ballots will be “invalidated” without required identifying information and that in-person voting will be “prohibited” without government-issued identification.Nothing about the initiative changed.
Bonta’s description of it did.Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, one of Prop.39’s proponents and a leader of the Yes campaign, caught the switch and sounded the alarm.California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!“When Rob Bonta didn’t think we could get the signatures on Prop.
39, he provided a relatively fair ballot title,” DeMaio said.But after voters forced it onto the ballot, DeMaio charged, Bonta changed it to “a biased and dishonest one.”And the original language wasn’t something DeMaio wrote.
It was Bonta’s own official description of the initiative.A biased and dishonest one.Written by the state’s top law enforcement officer.
About an electi...