California’s top lawyer is deceiving voters to sabotage democracy. But we can stop him

File Rob Bonta’s latest stunt under “Democrats’ dirty tricks.”

Subcategory: familiar.

The California attorney general had the (predictable) gall this week to play partisan games with the Voter ID initiative on the Nov. 3 ballot.

He did this by shifting the language that will describe Prop. 39 when it goes before voters this fall.

Original ballot language: “ESTABLISHES ADDITIONAL VOTER IDENTIFICATION AND CITIZENSHIP VERIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.”

Simple and neutral.

Replacement verbiage, aka the Bonta Special: “PROHIBITS CITIZENS FROM VOTING UNLESS THEY PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION.”

Note the first three words of the Bonta Special.

“Prohibits citizens from voting” … now that sounds unfair, doesn’t it?

That’s the idea. 

By reframing the summary — calling the measure’s purpose a prohibition of rights rather than a verification process to ensure that only citizens vote, as per the law — Bonta seeks to manipulate voters, not inform them. 

In other words: He puts a dirty-trick thumb on the scale.

This trick matters because ballot descriptions are the only thing many voters read before deciding how to vote. 

They trust the state AG’s shorthand to accurately describe the measure at hand.

They shouldn’t. 

And that’s a message advocates of Voter ID need to make sure Californians hear and understand before November, as the campaign heats up.

As noted, Bonta’s tactic is familiar. He and his Democratic AG predecessors have revamped California ballot descriptions for years, always (surprise!) to favor the interests of Democrats.

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In one egregious example, then-AG and now gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra used distorted ballot language to torpedo a 2018 tax-hike repeal measure.

After a legal challenge, the court-ordered verbiage read: “Repeals recently-enacted gas and diesel taxes and vehicle registration fees.”

Yet here’s what appeared on the ballot, after an appeals court deferred to Becerra’s preferred framing: “Eliminates certain road repair and transportation funding. Requires certain fuel taxes and vehicle fees to be approved by the electorate.”

Shocker: The measure failed.

That’s exactly the dirty trick Bonta’s engaging in now.

Polls show strong, bipartisan support for a Voter ID law, even in deep-blue California. And for good reason: Californians want elections with results they can trust.

And it would be better for all stakeholders (of goodwill) if questions about whether noncitizens vote in the state’s notoriously lax balloting were largely settled by a straightforward Voter ID requirement.

That’s why voting yes on Prop. 39 is a no-brainer for California.

Prop. 39 would require ID to vote in person, or the last four digits of a government-issued number to vote by mail.

It’s a simple safeguard that would boost trust in elections and help quell suspicions of fraud.

But instead of letting the issue pass or fail on its merits, the state’s AG deals dirty tricks.

Bonta hopes distorted ballot language will deceive Californians into voting against their own interests. 

Dear voters, don’t fall for it.