By admin 
A coterie of top California Democrats anchored by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi appeared at a San Francisco union hall on Friday to shore up opposition to a contentious voter ID ballot initiative. The rally comes as federal prosecutors claim to have found fraud on state voter rolls ahead of next month’s election.
Read more California’s mussel sticker fee just went up. Here’s what boaters need to know
Newsom and Pelosi appeared at the Laborers Local 261 headquarters in the Mission at a rally against Proposition 39. The initiative, led by Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, would require voters to show government ID at polling stations.
Local elections officials would also have to verify voters’ citizenship using government data and publish reports, which critics say bolsters conspiracies about voter integrity and undermines confidence in elections.
Polls show a majority of Californians oppose Prop. 39. Newsom, Pelosi and their allies said the measure would suppress voter turnout as Democrats are poised to reclaim the House majority in the midterms and voters have soured on the Republican Party and President Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, federal authorities arrested 11 people statewide and charged 28 after claiming to have found 20,000 people within California voter rolls who had voted after falsely claiming to be citizens. That 20,000 number, already a fraction of the 23 million registered to vote in California, was sharply winnowed down from earlier White House estimates that there were 190,000 noncitizens on voter rolls.
Read more Sacramento Latino leaders defend Guerra after Cofer questions his immigration record
Also in attendance at Friday’s rally were Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis; Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose; California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks; Laborers Local 261 secretary-treasurer David De La Torre; congressional hopefuls Sens. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Mike McGuire, D-Santa Rosa, and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan; and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California President Jodi Hicks.
Pelosi connected Prop. 39 to the federal SAVE Act, which would also mandate voters show ID to cast ballots in federal elections and require election officials to routinely audit and purge voter rolls. While the measure has stalled in the Senate, Republicans have tried to include parts of it in other legislation.
“They are putting up obstacles to participation to vote,” Pelosi said.
Newsom also pointed to the U.S. Department of Justice’s request to block the results of the Alaska election if Republican Senate candidate David Sullivan loses, calling it a “preview” of what could happen more frequently nationwide.
“What (Trump is) doing in the Senate race up in Alaska should scare the hell out of everybody. That just happened,” he told reporters in brief remarks. “This guy’s not screwing around. We’ll lose this country unless we turn out in numbers and margins where he cannot contest this race. It’s that foundational, that fundamental.”
Read more California has the best foodie city in the US — and the worst, new study says