California is known for its wacky politics (plus its way-out-there politicians), and lawmakers are certainly not above resorting to sleazy moves to get their way.
Case in point: the practice of wording the title of a ballot to confuse voters and have them vote against their interests.
Playing games with titles and/or the explanations of measures is a regular occurrence on the Left Coast. There was no more repugnant example of that than the one provided by then-Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2014. Her office wrote and approved the title for Proposition 47, which they laughably named the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Of course, that measure reclassified some non-violent offenses from felonies to misdemeanors and served up other soft-on-crime provisions, leading to a predictable explosion in crime and the crises in the state’s cities that we see to this day.
Who’s going to vote against something called the "Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act?"
But if there’s one thing that Democrats are scared of, it’s voter integrity efforts, and current AG Rob Bonta is doing his best to make sure that a voter ID initiative gets crushed in the November elections. He’s pulling a fast one and renaming Prop 39, which would amend the California Constitution to require voters to present government-issued identification at the polls or the last four digits of a government-issued identification number when voting by mail.
Here's the old title, which was on the initiative’s petitions that were signed by over 1.3 million voters in 2025:
ESTABLISHES ADDITIONAL VOTER IDENTIFICATION AND CITIZENSHIP VERIFICATION REQUIREMENTS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
New title, as written by Bonta:
PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Golden State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-75), one of the initiative's authors, is furious:
BREAKING: CA Politicians change ballot title on Prop 39 Voter ID Initiative - trying to RIG ELECTION!
— Carl DeMaio (@carldemaio) July 21, 2026
Read our full release: pic.twitter.com/LtUy4ui6Q6
"California politicians know that a supermajority 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," DeMaio wrote.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton also called out the greasy maneuver:
BREAKING: The corrupt machine that runs California (for now) has CHANGED the wording on the Voter ID ballot initiative to try and stop people voting for it.
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) July 21, 2026
Why are these people so terrified of honest elections?
We WILL pass Voter ID and we will kick them out in November. ✊ pic.twitter.com/fjwRL5AZW9
RELATED: ABC News Just Caught Democrat Senator Mark Warner Telling a Massive Lie About Voter ID
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Bonta’s chicanery continued. Look at the wording change he instituted in the measure’s summary:
OLD: “This measure would amend the California Constitution to further require that voters present government-issued identification at the polls or the last four digits of a government-issued identification number when voting by mail; the State provide voter identification cards on request; and elections officials annually report percentage of each county’s voters whose citizenship they have verified.”
AND THE VERY SCARY-SOUNDING NEW: “Invalidates mail ballots that do not have last four digits of designated government-issued identification number written on envelope. Prohibits in-person voting without presenting government-issued identification.”
Notice his repeated use of the word "prohibits" instead of "requires." Cute, Rob, real cute.
Why is Bonta allowed to do this, you might ask? Unfortunately, it’s all perfectly legal: in California, state law gives the AG the job of naming and describing ballot measures. Doesn’t make it any less dirty, but it’s legal. And unfortunately, as we saw with Proposition 47, it very often works.
Still, DeMaio vows to fight it because he says it's extremely unusual to change the title after the measure has already qualified for the ballot (or after signatures were collected under the original title).
Democrats will fight to the death to ensure our voting systems are not secured. If you don't believe that, Bonta just proved it for you once again.
Editor's Note: The Democrats are doing everything in their power to undermine the integrity of our elections.
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