California AG Under Fire for Backing Voter ID Ballot Shift

California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, finds himself in the hot seat amidst a wave of criticism following his move to rephrase the language surrounding the state’s voter ID law on the ballot.

Accusations have been leveled at the Democrat for allegedly misleading edits made at the eleventh hour to the text of Proposition 39. This proposition, if passed, mandates that voters produce government-issued identification at polling stations or provide the last four digits of an ID number when casting a mail-in vote.

Bonta’s office addressed the backlash through a statement on X, where they attempted to justify the widely criticized decision.

“Fact: Changes to ballot titles and summaries from the circulating version to what voters ultimately see are not uncommon. California law expressly permits these alterations to ensure clarity for voters,” Bonta detailed, emphasizing that modifications were made to “all nine voter-proposed initiatives” appearing on the ballot.

He further assured, “The California Department of Justice is committed to its duty of providing accurate and unbiased information to educate voters effectively.”

In original description, Prop 39 was described as a measure that “establishes additional voter identification and citizenship verification requirements.” But after the voter ID proposal qualified for the November ballot, Bonta changed it to say that it “prohibits citizens from voting unless they present government-issued identification.”

“Seems the rewording is a violation — your rewording was not impartial and is likely to create prejudice,” one X user replied to Bonta’s post.

“Rob Bonta you are a complete fraud. This is so dishonest. Your changes totally distort what the voter id proposition is set to do,” another added.

“You are attempting to manipulate the vote by changing the perception of the bill from its intended purpose because you know you would lose otherwise,” wrote Brian Ralston, a Los Angeles composer. “Thus you are a dangerous, manipulative, ideological, traitorous clown.”

Some brought up the history of California attorneys general writing allegedly slanted descriptions of ballot measures as a reason not to trust Bonta.

For example, a past ballot proposal that would let voters repeal the state’s gas taxes was instead described as a measure that “eliminates certain road repair and transportation funding.”

“Everyone was confused by repeal of 2017 gas tax prop, maybe you guys SUCK at rewrites and shouldn’t do it,” wrote user Amanda Sereno.

The blowback comes as backers of Prop 39 float the idea of a lawsuit to challenge Bonta, though such a challenge is unlikely to be successful considering that courts have mostly sided with the attorney general’s discretion on ballot measures in past cases.

“We cannot allow this corruption to happen without putting up a fight!” declared Reform California, the organization behind Prop 39, in a fundraising pitch on Friday.

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