Plan to split California into 3 states may qualify for ballot

A proposal that would split California into three smaller states may qualify for the ballot in November. A proposal that would split California into three smaller states may qualify for the ballot in November. Photo: Twitter Photo: Twitter Image 1 of / 59 Caption Close Plan to split California into 3 states may qualify for ballot 1 / 59 Back to Gallery

Californians may get to vote on a plan to split the state into three smaller states this November.

Venture capitalist Tim Draper, who previously pushed a proposal that would split California into six states, says that his three-state proposal has enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

On Thursday, Draper said in a statement that the "CAL 3" initiative has collected over 600,000 signatures from Californians who would like to see the state split into three. An initiative needs 366,000 signatures to appear on the ballot.

"This is an unprecedented show of support on behalf of every corner of California to create

three state governments that emphasize representation, responsiveness, reliability and regional

identity," Draper said.

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The supporters of CAL 3 will submit the signatures to election officials next week, and if the California secretary of state verifies the signatures, and if it passes review from the attorney general, the measure could appear on the November ballot.

Typically, thousands of petition signatures are found to be invalid, something Draper knows all too well. In 2014 he mounted a similar effort to split California into six states and turned in 1.3 million signatures, only to see nearly half of them disqualified. He ended up about 100,000 short of the valid signatures he needed.

If voters pass it, CAL 3 would begin the process to divide California into "Northern California," "Southern California," and just plain "California."

"Northern California" would include all of the counties north of Merced County, and "California" would consist of Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and San Benito counties.

The remaining counties would be part of "Southern California."

Even if the proposal passes in November, splitting the state would require congressional approval.

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CAL3's website estimates that Northern California would have a population of 13.3 million, California would have a population of 12.3 million, and Southern California would have a population of 13.9 million.

The reasoning behind the proposal is that California has gotten too big to be governed effectively.