Gov. Gavin Newsom has called on California lawmakers to approve a November ballot measure that would allow them to redraw the state’s congressional map.
Matt Barreto, political scientist and co-founder of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, weighs in on the legality of this move and potential liabilities. He confirmed that according to the California Constitution, the state legislature is legally authorized to approve districts, and the independent commission is only authorized to draw districts once every 10 years after the U.S. Census. The “Election Rigging Response Act” would pave the way for California Democrats to forego waiting for the independent commission.
“In this case, the governor has called on the state legislature to pass a ballot referendum that the people will vote on in November 2025. So this will take the state legislature first passing the referendum law and then the people voting on it.”
"Per the governor, this current effort in California is in direct response to Texas initiating a mid-decade redistricting for partisan purposes. The president and the governor of Texas have both stated their intent is to draw five more Republican districts to give the Republican Party an advantage in the House of Representatives. So what we have now is the governor of California responding to that and basically saying, if Texas decides to change the rules in the middle of the game, California can do that too.”
“What the governor is doing is creating the political opportunity for the state legislature and, ultimately, the voters to approve a new set of maps in California.”
“One potential concern for the governor is whether or not the voters will support this and vote yes. There's going to be an extensive campaign with public information and outreach to educate the voters of California why the governor believes this is important. However, the governor has already faced an off-year ballot initiative in his recall in 2021, and he successfully won that by a solid 20 points.”
