This might give a whole new meaning to stuffing the ballot box.

As it stands now, when San Francisco voters get their guides for the June 3 election, the official opponent listed for Proposition B, a measure to limit high-rise development on the waterfront, will be none other than Jon Golinger.

That would be the same Jon Golinger who is the campaign manager and one of the main public faces for the “yes” side.

No, Golinger didn’t have a sudden change of heart. Instead, he finds himself listed as the official opponent through a combination of official paralysis, an intimate understanding of the rules and what some called “Nixonian” trickery.

“Is that legal?” asked Mary Jung, the chairwoman of the San Francisco Democratic Party and a registered lobbyist for the San Francisco Association of Realtors. “That’s insane.”

According to Department of Elections director John Arntz, it is legal. And, barring some kind of intervention, the official argument in the voter guide listed as against Proposition B will actually be in favor of the measure.

“Who really doesn’t like B? Greedy real estate interests. Don’t B fooled by them,” it reads.

Golinger, who is unapologetic, called it “a public service announcement from Jon Golinger.”

Unless “there is something that comes up that indicates this cannot happen, this is how it’s going to stand,” Arntz said.

Here’s how we got to this point.

If an elected official like Mayor Ed Lee or a member of the Board of Supervisors opposes a ballot measure, they can automatically become the official opponent listed in the voter guide and be responsible for the official argument against it.

But if there is no elected official in opposition, then registered voters can fill that role. The Department of Elections chooses at random one of the opposition arguments submitted, regardless of what it says, and that person and argument become the official opposition.

No elected official has publicly come out in opposition to Prop. B, which would require voter approval for any development on Port of San Francisco property to exceed existing height limits. Several public officials have questioned the measure privately, but no one seems to want to be the politician advocating for giving voters less say in city matters. That’s not exactly a formula for getting more votes the next time one runs for office, is the conventional thinking.

That left wide open who would be Prop. B’s official opponent. Of the 27 opposition arguments filed, at least 25 of those came from Golinger.

With those kinds of odds, he was a virtual lock to be chosen.

Golinger, who hand wrote the ballot arguments until his pen went dry, called opponents of the measure, which include the construction trade unions, the San Francisco Giants and development interests, “lazy or inept.”

“If they fail to follow the rules then they have no one to blame but themselves,” said Golinger. He described his tactic as “100 percent within the rules” and a smart move given the wealthy developers expected to oppose his grassroots group of limited-growth advocates, including the local branch of the Sierra Club.

Vince Courtney Sr., a long-time labor figure involved in San Francisco politics who dropped off at the Department of Elections one of the arguments actually opposing the measure, called Golinger’s move “just unethical and an abuse of the process.”

“It may not be technical in violation of the law,” Courtney said, “but it’s kind of sleazy.”

Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, said his office was looking into the matter.

— John Coté