By Indri Schaelicke | United States

Last year, California venture capitalist Tim Draper announced a plan that would break California into three separate states. The Northern region of California would become North California, the Southern portion, South California, and a strip of land along the coast, including Los Angeles would be California.

Break California: A Representative Government

The idea was a solution to what many view as a currently ineffective and unrepresentative state government. Citizens of California feel that the elected officials of in their state government do not represent them. Many counties in California typically go Republican during presidential elections. However, because of the large concentration of Democrats in urban areas, the state reliably goes blue. This causes the state to favor policies that benefit those in urban areas, rather than those in the rural counties.

Beyond failing to accurately represent and address their needs, however, the sheer size of California means that elected officials cannot quickly and effectively address issues that the public faces. This frustrates many citizens, who reason that a more localized government will better serve their needs.

The Bureaucratic Process

The first step to break California into three was to collect 365,880 signatures from registered voters in California. Tim Draper and his team collected 600,000, enough to place the issue on the ballot for the 2018 midterm election.

On Wednesday however, Draper’s plan hit a snag, as the California Supreme Court wrote that “significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity.“ This unanimous decision directs the Secretary of State, Alex Padilla, to not place the proposition on the ballot.

So, though they did collect enough signatures, the vote will not occur this fall.

The dreams of Tim Draper and his supporters must wait at least another two years before they have a chance to become a reality.

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