The voter ID measure known as Prop 39, which is set to appear on California’s November ballot, has undergone a title and label change, prompting supporters to sue the state’s Attorney General on July 27.
The measure was originally titled “Establishes Additional Voter Identification and Citizenship Verification Requirements.” This title had been in use since Sept. 19, 2025, while the Prop 39 initiative gathered signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
After the measure qualified, the office of state Attorney General Rob Bonta certified it on July 3 and renamed it “Prohibits Citizens From Voting Unless They Present Government-Issued Identification.”
The lawsuit described the new title as inaccurate because “the measure does not prohibit any citizen from voting but regulates which ballots are counted.”
Prop 39 establishes ballot verification rules for election officials who count ballots, according to the lawsuit.
It states that the ballot measure establishes three requirements.
First is that the California Secretary of State and county election officials must maintain accurate voter registration records. Second, people voting in person must present a government-issued identification, and those voting by mail must provide the last four digits of a government-issued ID number. Third is that election officials will be subject to periodic reporting and audits regarding their efforts to verify the citizenship of people on their voter rolls.
The lawsuit alleged that the new ballot title and summary are misleading and describe the measure in “prohibitive terms.” The new summary also leaves out information about requiring election officials to maintain accurate voter rolls, according to the lawsuit.
The California Attorney General’s Office told media outlets that the changes were completely lawful and more informative. Bonta said he was responsible for writing the titles and summaries for nine of the measures set to appear on the ballot and had made changes to all nine. State lawmakers wrote the summaries for the other measures.
State Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, who led the effort to collect signatures for Prop 39, criticized the new title and summary.
“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 said in a July 21 press release.
He said the original title was used on the initiative petitions, which gathered more than 1.3 million signatures.
“California politicians know that a super-majority 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.
He referenced a 2018 ballot initiative that underwent the same situation. That measure, if passed, would have repealed the state’s gas tax.
Under then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra—who is currently running for governor—the gas tax measure received a last-minute title change from “Gas Tax Repeal Initiative” to “Eliminates Recently Enacted Road Repair and Transportation Funding.”
That ballot measure initially received 65 percent voter approval, but support dropped to 45 percent following the text change, according to DeMaio’s press release.
However, DeMaio believes voters will support Prop 39 even with the new title and summary.
The lawsuit is requesting an expedited hearing and asks for a decision before Aug. 10. After this date, state officials will begin printing the official Voter Information Guide for the November election.
