Environmental Group Files Suit To Block California's Split-The-State Measure From Ballot
Source: Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A prominent environmental group took legal action on Monday to block Proposition 9, the proposal to split California into three states, from the fall ballot.
The challenge, filed with the California Supreme Court, asserts that the proposal is too sweeping in its nature to have been placed on the ballot under the same provisions used to enact traditional laws.
"In seeking to remove this initiative from the ballot, we are asking the court to protect the integrity of both the initiative process and our state constitution," Carlyle Hall, an attorney representing the group, said in a written statement. "Proponents should not be able to evade the state constitution simply by qualifying a measure as one thing, when it is so clearly another."
Proposition 9 seeks voter consent to begin the process of dividing California into three separate states - one in the north, one that begins in the Central Valley and curves to the south and west to the coast, and a third state centered around Los Angeles...more..
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/environmental-group-files-suit-to-block-californias-split-the-state-measure-from-ballot/ar-AAzSejg
Proposition 9 was crafted by Tim Draper, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who unsuccessfully attempted to place a six-state division of California on the ballot in 2014. A request for comment to the ballot measure's campaign wasn't immediately returned.
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One relative in the LA area was berserk last year post-election in wanting Ca. to split from the US. I get the understandable reasons and some POVs. On separation and division, this article from yesterday based on Gallup polling has some interesting points about our current geopolitical demographics, esp. regarding elections and voting. It claims that we've evolved into 3 super regions with similar aspects.
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- A New Regional Paradigm for Following U.S. Elections-, JUNE 25, 2018, by V. Lance Tarrance
Geopolitics is defined as the interrelationship of politics, economics, demographics and geography, and can influence not only elections, but delineate new political power centers and political strategies. Regional groupings of states that are organized around cultural and demographic similarities as well as geography can provide important ways of approaching U.S. politics. U.S. politics today are characterized by deep partisan divides on cultural and political issues. The Cook Political Report recently said that "across the country we're seeing a political division -- some say the greatest since Reconstruction" with "seismic shifts, not just Republicans on one side and Democrats on the other … but on a geographic level."
Traditional Census regions -- the Northeast, Midwest, South and West -- don't fully align with today's political divisions, and the well-known red/blue state classification lacks geographic references. A new scheme is needed that hews closer to the socio-political differences among the states while retaining enough geographic unity to qualify as a "geopolitical" framework or lens for making sense of the nation...https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/235838/new-regional-paradigm-following-elections.aspx?utm_source=tagrss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=syndication
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016210340
LA County, the largest county in the US -- 10.17 million population, will be converting from hand-marked paper ballots to touch-screen ballots for a whopping $282 million; deadline is March 2020. This will set the stage for pilfering votes, undetected, to suit the greedy appetite of the rethugs, oligarchs, and corporations who want to destroy CA. 
Pricey voting system approved by LA County Board of Supervisors By Miriam Hernandez Tuesday, June 12, 2018
http://abc7.com/politics/new-voting-system-approved-by-la-county-board-of-supervisors/3595736/
LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
A week after a huge glitch during the California Primary, Los Angeles County moved to modernize its voting system. It comes with a big price tag and a lot of questions.
The mystery of the 118,000 missing names on L.A County voter rosters remains under investigation, yet the troubling lapse did not deter the Board of Supervisors from delivering a huge vote of support to County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan on Tuesday.
The board voted unanimously to fund Logan's plan for a massive overhaul of the the voting system. A contractor, Smartmatic, will be hired for terms that could reach $282 million.
Logan said safeguards for the county are built in.
"The contract is a performance-based contract based on key deliverables and service-level agreements," said Logan.
The supervisors said that last week's massive glitch is symptomatic of an antiquated system.
Logan said that the system is not a panacea, but it will make trouble-shooting much faster.
The system will employ touch-screen ballots. Neighborhood polling sites will be replaced by regional polling centers. Paper ballots will record each vote and be fully auditable. The system will go through mock elections later this year.
"Your assurance about testing, testing, testing is very important," said Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.
Critics of the nearly quarter-billion-dollar cost said that Smartmatic is not qualified and that the system was developed in nations such as Venezuela with a questionable history for fair elections.
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