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California Voters To Consider Splitting Up The State

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right, Steve, so I'm here in California, a state that may no longer exist in its current form if a political movement succeeds.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

What?

GREENE: There's a ballot initiative - yeah, right? There's a ballot initiative. It's going to ask voters in November if they want to split this large state into three smaller pieces.

INSKEEP: OK. There are lots of ballot initiatives in California. They don't all pass, but some are a big deal. Remember Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage once upon a time, or Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana just last year?

GREENE: Right. And this split-up-California measure, that was introduced by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper. His argument is the state is just too large to be governed efficiently. This is him on Fox News.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT")

TIM DRAPER: It's not safe here. We have many...

TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah.

DRAPER: ...Homeless people. We have a lot of big problems. The education system is just about the worst...

CARLSON: Yeah.

DRAPER: ...In all 50 states.

INSKEEP: David, is this going to pass?

GREENE: No. Probably not. I mean, it got enough signatures to get on the ballot, but polls suggest the minority supports it. Even if it passed, it would still need to be approved by Congress. So I would not rush to throw out your old maps of the United States quite yet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.