“Six Californias,” Ballot Initiative to Split up the Golden State, Falls Short on Signatures

The Silicon Valley venture capitalist who wants to split up California into six states has failed to qualify for the 2016 ballot, falling short of the number of signatures required to land it there, officials said Friday.

The secretary of state's office reported Friday that only 66 percent of the 1.37 million signatures that Tim Draper submitted in the effort were projected to be valid.

Tim Draper had faced a Friday deadline to submit the signatures, and without them, the "Six Californias" initiative won't make it onto the 2016 ballot.

Draper spent millions trying to boost the initiative, which would have divided the Golden State into six distinct states:

  • Northern, rural California would become the State of Jefferson
  • Area from Wine Country and Sacramento to Lake Tahoe would become North California
  • The State of Silicon Valley would run from San Francisco to Santa Clara County
  • Much of the state's Central Valley would become Central California
  • The Los Angeles County basin would be called West California
  • The area from San Diego to the desert in the east would become South California

While many people signed on to the idea, most political experts say the chance of it ever becoming reality are unlikely. A recent Field Poll showed that 59 percent of those surveyed opposed the idea.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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