Voter ID-backers sue California attorney general over ballot description

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Set us as preferred Sacramento — Backers of a November ballot measure that would require Californians to verify their identity when voting sued state officials on Monday, alleging bias in how the ballot’s summary is written.A group led by California State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego) allege in a 10-page lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court that Atty.General Rob Bonta violated election laws that require the “impartial” labeling of a measure’s purpose.

DeMaio accused Bonta of trying “to rig the vote” against the measure with “a false title claiming it prohibits citizens from voting” in California elections.He also said the measure, will appear as Proposition 39 on the November ballot, is “a bipartisan solution to Voter ID and is supported by a supermajority of Democratic, independent, and Republican voters.”“We take our duty to prepare a title and summary and ballot label seriously, and we are confident the court will agree we have faithfully executed that duty here,” said a spokesperson for Bonta.Proposition 39 would require voters to present government-issued identification, such as a state driver’s license, every time they vote in person.Voters who use mail-in ballots — by far the most popular method of voting in California — would be required to write a four-digit number, essentially a PIN, on their ballot envelopes.The PIN would come from ID such as a driver’s license, or could be generated from the county.

The measure also requires that the Secretary of State and county elections officials to maintain accurate voter registration lists, verify citizenship, and report annually the percentage of each county’s role that have been citizenship-verified.Under current law, Californians are required to provide identification when registering to vote and must swear under penal...