The facts
California's Proposition 39, a citizen-led initiative requiring a government-issued identification card or number to vote in person or by mail, is set for a vote in November. The measure, organized by Californians for Voter ID, also mandates election officials to verify U.S. citizenship. However, the language used in the official California voters guide to explain the proposition has been flagged for its partisan tone. Arguments against Proposition 39, listed by opponents including the ACLU California Action, Common Cause, and the League of Women Voters of California, state that the measure 'would advance Trump’s voter suppression agenda' and urge voters to 'Don’t let MAGA billionaires decide which voters count. Vote No.' Supporters, including the Transparency Foundation and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, argue that Proposition 39 offers a 'bipartisan solution for voter ID' that 'increases trust and confidence in our elections.' The guide also details the financial impact, estimating costs of 'tens of millions of dollars and low hundreds of millions of dollars each year,' and outlines the voting process under the proposed measure, where a 'yes' vote requires additional identifying information and a 'no' vote continues the current signature verification method. X users, including Daniel Keller, criticized the 'level of discourse in the OFFICIAL California voters guide.'
Our take
Well, look at this: the great state of California, in its infinite bureaucratic wisdom, has decided its official voter guide should read like a drunk tweet from a fired MSNBC booker. The arguments against Proposition 39 don’t just oppose the idea; they perform a full rectal-cranial inversion and scream about “MAGA billionaires” trying to “decide which voters count.” This isn’t a civil discourse; it’s a state-sponsored shitpost. The fucking voter guide, people. The document you’re supposed to consult for sober, neutral information now comes with its own little packet of rage-bait, courtesy of the usual parade of professional hand-wringers at the ACLU and Common Cause. They couldn’t just say we think this is bad policy. Oh no. They had to lube it up with the dumbest, most reductionist culture-war bullshit imaginable, because convincing anyone on the merits is for losers. And let’s not ignore the sheer, galaxy-brain hypocrisy of it all. These are the same sanctimonious pricks who will lecture you for hours about “disinformation” and threats to democracy. Yet here they are, turning the state’s official election handbook into a fucking opposition research dump, funded by your gas tax. The “No” argument is basically a poorly formatted Instagram infographic, blaming everything on a cabal of cartoonish rich villains. It’s pathetic. It’s also a confession: they have no actual case, so they’re just going to scream the President’s name and hope the useful idiots get mad enough to mark the right box. The whole thing is a coward’s move, dressing up a toddler’s political tantrum in the bland, authoritative typesetting of a government PDF. It’s the electoral equivalent of writing “Trump sucks” in the margins of a textbook. Grow the fuck up. And spare a thought for the “Yes” side, those paragons of virtue at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who call this clusterfuck a “bipartisan solution.” You know what’s bipartisan? Agreeing that this entire guide is a fucking embarrassment. They’re all clowns, arguing over a measure that will cost “low hundreds of millions” so the state can officially certify that you are, in fact, you. For that price, they could just mail every voter a fucking Polaroid and a notarized letter. Instead, we get this pissing contest bound in a pamphlet. The only thing transparent here, you grifters at the Transparency Foundation, is your own desperate, pathetic need to be taken seriously. The whole system is a joke, and the punchline is printed on your dime.
