CA Voter ID Ballot Prop So Popular, Democrats Forced to Argle-Bargle the Official Title

Over a year ago, an optimistic Republican state assemblyman from San Diego, California, named Carl DeMaio launched what seemed to be a fruitless effort to get a voter identification proposition on the California ballot. He and his partners faced steep odds in the deep-blue, heavily Democratic, machine-run state. Not the least of which was the requirement to obtain over a million signatures by the following spring.

While voter ID initiatives have been routinely talked about in California for several decades, a new push for a ballot decision was floated earlier this year by DeMaio and then-Assemblyman Bill Essayli following the failure of DeMaio’s bill requiring voter ID to vote. While serious about their plans for the initiative, Essayli’s appointedment by President Donald Trump as U.S. Attorney delayed the effort. In the meantime, a May poll found a majority of Californians want proof of citizenship before voting. According to the UC Berkeley IGS poll, 71% of Californians want that proof of citizenship requirement for first time voter registration, while 54% are in favor of showing proof of citizenship before each election.

Backed by the support, as well as Senator Strickland teaming up with DeMaio, the lawmakers unveiled their new proposal outside the state Capitol in Sacramento on Wednesday. While the initiative is in line with DeMaio’s previous bill and an attempt by Strickland to pass a similar initiative last year before it was challenged by Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, both lawmakers said that they are expecting Democrats to challenge the bill over the state-level ID requirements that could have the proposal’s constitutionality questioned. This is especially true of mail-in write in ballot options, in which the last four digits of a government-issued ID or Social Security number would be required in lieu of going in in person with a valid ID.

Obviously, someone on the Democratic side miscalculated the depth of the thirst for ‘secure’ elections in the Golden State… 

…As of Wednesday night, no specific opposition has been formed against the Reform California attempt. However, should it begin to gain traction, prominent Democrats are expected to oppose it en masse.

…because it only took nine months for DeMaio’s team to pass the threshold.

WE DID IT! Our CA Voter ID Initiative just officially qualified for the November 2026 ballot! Now the hard part is waging the campaign to pass it! Like/share if you are voting FOR this game-changing measure. pic.twitter.com/QWLmZjsu1j

— Carl DeMaio (@carldemaio) April 25, 2026

And this was no lightweight measure, either, that those million-plus petition signers are hungry for, as I wrote a few months ago. That fact had the Democratic machine in a panic and rumbling to life to stop the prop in its tracks.

…Democrat and progressive heads have to be exploding, as this is not simply a ‘show ID at the polling station’ measure.

Should it pass, this is going to be a game-changer in the filthy cess-pool that is CA electioneering, and the panicked lies and smears are already starting to be broadcast.

No more anonymous mail-in ballots. There would now be controls on those, along with other security changes, like cross-checking to confirm citizenship. Also, the four-digit ‘ID’ written on the envelope is not part of someone’s SSN, but a prechosen registration identification number from a government ID – their designated government-issued ID number from voter registration (e.g., driver’s license, passport, or SSN) – that has been verified and is on file with the registrar.

A “yes” vote supported this ballot initiative to:

• require voters to present a government-issued ID for in-person voting or provide the last four digits of a government-issued ID designated during voter registration for mail-in voting;
• require election officials to “maintain accurate voter registration lists [and]… use best efforts to verify citizenship attestations using government data” and to report each year the percentage of each county’s voter rolls that have been citizenship-verified;
• require the State Auditor to audit government compliance with these requirements during odd-numbered years and report “findings and recommendations for improving the integrity of elections to the public.”

The scare tactic lies were flying fast and furiously immediately.

This is the lie that @KTLA is pushing now to the viewers. They are trying to convince LA that voter ID will prevent them from voting if they don’t know which ID they originally registered with, which is more BS coming from this station.

— Heather 🇺🇸 (@oheathersue) April 25, 2026

Now Democrats were scrambling, but there were still avenues to torpedo the measure available to them.

One was the state Attorney General, a rabid partisan who wasn’t afraid to move against the prop with all the power of his imperial office.

Rob Bonta went to work when the measure made it to his desk for final tweaking to get to the ballot.

Bonta rewrote the title and initiative summary for the proposition, now dubbed ‘Prop 39.’ And then, for good measure, he did the same for the other eight props which had qualified, just so he couldn’t be accused of acting, like, unfairly or with…um… ill intent. 

Hey, he said. What are you whining about? I do this all the time.

Fact: It is common for ballot titles and summaries to change from the circulating version to the version voters see on the ballot. California law expressly allows these changes to provide further clarity for voters.

This year, all nine voter-proposed initiatives had changes,…

— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) July 24, 2026

…This year, all nine voter-proposed initiatives had changes, including Prop. 39. 

California DOJ takes seriously its responsibility to provide accurate and impartial information to inform voters.

Assemblyman DeMaio points out in a lawsuit they’ve just filed that AG Bonta had already provided the petition title that was on the page everyone signed and it had been approved for over a year. Why was it necessary to change to something so completely at odds with, and so convoluted from, what the original had been, if accuracy and impartiality were the goal?

These two are not remotely similar.

DeMaio, a co-proponent and leader of the Yes on Prop 39 effort, explains:

Without this lawsuit, voters will see a BIASED and FALSE ballot title on Prop 39 that manipulates them into voting NO on Voter ID!

How bad will it be? Well, I want you to read the two different ballot titles for Prop 39 – and judge for yourself:

ORIGINAL FAIR PROP 39 TITLE (September 19, 2025):
ESTABLISHES ADDITIONAL VOTER IDENTIFICATION AND CITIZENSHIP VERIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.
Initiative Constitutional Amendment. 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.

REVISED DISHONEST PROP 39 TITLE (July 21, 2026):
PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.
Initiative Constitutional Amendment. 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.

Attorney General Rob Bonta is corruptly trying to rig the election against Prop 39 by falsely claiming it prohibits citizens from voting!

Quite the contrary, Prop 39 ensures that every citizen’s vote COUNTS by ensuring that no vote is cancelled out by non-citizens voting or fraudulent votes that are harvested without a voter’s knowledge.

The State Attorney General literally changed the prop’s title from ‘establishes additional voter ID’ etc. requirements to PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING. 

Those are literally the first four words a voter will see on the ballot next to the prop number.

Bonta just changed Prop 39’s ballot title to say it “PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING”, deliberately deceiving voters to kill Voter ID before it even reaches the ballot box.

This is election corruption from the Attorney General himself. California needs a new Attorney General.… pic.twitter.com/qeQWwQlfcl

— Vote Michael E. Gates for California Attorney Gen. (@MichaelGatesESQ) July 23, 2026

It is such a gobsmackingly blatant manipulation of the verbiage and so, SO on brand.

As Katy Grimes at the California Globe points out, not only is it appallingly slanted, but Bonta completely ran roughshod over the very requirements for the language approval in the proposition law itself. There was no invitation to public comment.

Another classic Democratic oops, huh?

…California Election law under Elections Code § 9051 states “In providing the ballot title and summary, the Attorney General is required to give a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure in such language that the ballot title and summary is neither an argument, nor likely to create prejudice, for or against the proposed measure. The Attorney General is required to invite and consider public comment in preparing each ballot title and summary.”

Assemblyman Carl DeMaio and California Republicans are suing AG Rob Bonta over new wording of state voter ID ballot measure.

Prop 39 now says it prohibits citizens from voting without gov’t ID.

“He’s a liar, he’s corrupt, he’s trying to manipulate the election,” DeMaio said. pic.twitter.com/nvv9rTElby

— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) July 27, 2026

He’s a liar, he could be corrupt to his core, and he’s an old hand at this crooked California game. 

So I don’t doubt he’s going to run out the clock until this is the way the language reads on the ballot by default.

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