Top California Democrats sue over language in state guide about voter ID measure

California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, two of the most influential lawmakers in the California Legislature, filed a lawsuit Wednesday over language in the state voter guide about Proposition 39, a voter identification measure.

The lawmakers aim to block “false or misleading” language in the state voter guide regarding Prop 39. The Republican-led initiative would require citizens to present government-issued identification before voting. Opponents of the measure say it will restrict voter access.

“Proposition 39 is a tool to suppress voter participation, plain and simple. Donald Trump’s endorsement is proof enough of that,” Rivas and Limón said in a joint statement. “The text provided by MAGA proponents of Proposition 39 is misleading and false. We are joining this litigation because, as Californians and Latinos, we will not allow MAGA allies to deprive citizens of their constitutional rights.”

The proposed measure will also require state and local elections officials to utilize “best efforts” to use government data in verifying its voter rolls, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

If passed, California voters will also be required to present a government ID when registering to vote by mail, provide an ID when voting in person and include the last four digits of their ID on their mail-in ballot envelope.

The state will further be asked to provide a voter identification card free of cost to voters who request one.

The proposed changes to the state’s election laws will cost California between tens of millions and the low hundreds of millions of dollars, the lawsuit claims. The writing in the state voter guide, the Democrats claim, "would have California voters believe otherwise.”

According to the lawsuit, filed in the Sacramento Superior Court, arguments in support of Prop 39 claim the measure “saves money” and “makes it easier to vote.”

The lawmakers are calling for that specific language in the voter guide to be stripped or changed in the arguments in favor of Prop 39, the rebuttal to the argument against the proposition, as well as the summary of the ballot argument.

If the court sides with Rivas and Limón, the language will need to be removed before the voter guide is printed and mailed to voters ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Legal challenges to ballot materials for the election must be concluded by Aug. 10, according to Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who is named in the lawsuit in her official capacity.

Though President Donald Trump has not officially backed Prop 39, he has been adamant about adding restrictive voter identification laws ahead of the midterm election. Trump has consistently made unfounded claims of election fraud, specifically making accusations against California’s election practices.

Reform California, one of Prop 39’s main backers, is led by Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego. Rivas and Limón referred to Prop 39 as the “brainchild of MAGA activists,” including DeMaio.

Responding to the lawsuit in a statement, DeMaio claimed Democrats “know that they can't win a fair vote on Prop 39's bipartisan solution for Voter ID because it has supermajority support from California voters — so instead they're trying to rig the election by putting a false ballot title on it and are now even distracting voters from their tampering of the ballot title with this frivolous lawsuit."

This suit came just one day after the Yes on Prop 39 group filed a separate lawsuit against Attorney General Rob Bonta for revising the official ballot title and summary.

Bonta changed the title from “Establishes additional voter identification and citizenship verification requirements,” to “Prohibits citizens from voting unless they present government-issued identification.”

The group argued in its lawsuit the new ballot title is inaccurate and not impartial.

Bonta defended the change, saying he believes it will hold up in court and noting that he made changes to all nine ballot measures he was responsible for writing titles and summaries for.