townhall.com86%
It Sure Looks Like California Democrats Are Trying to Rig the Upcoming Voter ID Initiative Vote 81%
By Amy Curtis90%
7/22/2026, 8:00:24 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Biased Writer Voice, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 36% saturation with 312 hits. Analysis detected 2,232 faulty-reasoning hits from 866 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 72.7% and a BS Rank of 81% (3,996 of 20,453 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 80.50% of the article peer group.
In California, voters will soon be able to cast a ballot about Proposition 39, the Voter Identification, Citizenship Verification, and Registered Voter List Administration Initiative, which would create a constitutional amendment requiring Californians to show an ID when they vote and that state officials clean up voter rolls and verify citizenship.
Now, it seems California Attorney General Rob Bonta has changed the language of Prop 39 in an effort to rig the election.
Carl DeMaio is blasting Attorney General Rob Bonta for a "blatant attempt to rig the November election" after he changed the ballot title on the Prop 39 Voter ID Initiative at the last minute to one that discourages voters from approving the bipartisan measure.
DeMaio, who is one of the initiative's official proponent authors and a leader of the YES on Prop 39 campaign, hays his coalition is exploring "every legal avenue" to hold the Attorney General accountable for election tampering by manipulating the ballot title on the measure.
"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," said DeMaio.
DeMaio points out that the Attorney General had already provided a ballot title for Prop 39 in September of 2025.
That original ballot title was on the initiative petitions signed by over 1.3 million California voters to force the bipartisan Voter ID initiative on the ballot this November.
"When Rob Bonta didn't think we could get the signatures on Prop 39, he provided a relatively fair ballot title — but now that the citizens have forced Prop 39 on the ballot, he decides at the last minute to corruptly try to rig the election against Prop 39 by changing the ballot title to a biased and dishonest one," DeMaio notes.
Read the two different ballot titles for Prop 39—and judge for yourself:
ORIGINAL 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 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.
DeMaio is now conferring with the YES on Prop 39 coalition as they explore taking legal action against the Attorney General — but he concedes that the politician-appointed judges have traditionally allowed state politicians to manipulate ballot titles in recent years.
DeMaio points to Prop 6 in 2018 — the Gas Tax Repeal Initiative.
That measure originally was titled "Gas Tax Repeal Initiative" but then Attorney General Xavier Becerra (who is now running for Governor) changed the title at the last minute to "Eliminates Recently Enacted Road Repair and Transportation Funding."
Because of the dishonest and biased title placed on Prop 6, politicians took a measure that enjoyed 65% voter approval down to just 45% — and California drivers are now stuck paying the highest gas prices in the country as a result.
DeMaio says, despite the effort by Bonta and other politicians to rig the election against Prop 39, he still expects voters will approve the measure in November.
"We expected corrupt politicians like Rob Bonta to try to deprive voters of a fair election on Prop 39 — but this biased and dishonest ballot title takes election rigging to a whole new level even for California," DeMaio notes.
"These corrupt politicians are showing every voter why we need to enact Prop 39 to implement a bipartisan solution to Voter ID," DeMaio concludes.
For more information on Yes on Prop 39, visit www.VoterIDInitiative.com
It sure seems like Bonta is trying to thwart the will of California voters.
It wouldn't be the first time.
Voters also overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36 in 2024.
Newsom railed against that tough-on-crime initiative, even saying he didn't recognize the California that would pass such a measure.
As of last August, California Democrats in Sacramento simply refused to fund Prop 36, rendering it moot.
It's appalling.
Voter ID is overwhelmingly popular across all demographics, including Democrats and black voters.
They want our elections to be secure and for our votes to be protected from fraud.
Democrats have spelled out exactly why they oppose voter ID: they'll lose.
And after the shenanigans of the past several years, it's clear they deserve to.
But defenders of democracy.
Or something.
Editor's Note: The Democrats are doing everything in their power to undermine the integrity of our elections.
Help us tell the truth about the SAVE America Act and how it will prevent voter fraud.
Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Speakers
1speaker39%attributed speech531writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Selected voice
96%flagged-word coverageCarl DeMaio
335 attributed words100% of attributed speech77% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
Loading…
Loading…
Loading…
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.