Petition for Ballot Initiative in California Seeks Public Support for Secession
California voters may be asked on their preference to secede from the union...
A newly proposed ballot initiative has entered circulation in California. If the required signatures are obtained, voters would vote on whether California should secede from the union and create a commission to study "California’s viability as (an) independent country".
If enough signatures are obtained, the following question would appear on the November 2028 ballot: “Should California leave the United States and become a free and independent country?” as per a California Secretary of State press release.
To be clear, this is not a vote for secession directly, but rather to determine if there is public support for secession. Specifically, the initiative language reads: "REQUIRES FUTURE VOTE ON WHETHER CALIFORNIA SHOULD BECOME INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. INITIATIVE STATUTE".
The petition requires 546,651 registered voters (5% of the total votes cast in the 2022 gubernatorial election) to make it onto the ballot.
"If at least 50% of registered voters participate in that election, and at least 55% vote “yes”, it would constitute “a vote of no confidence in the United States of America” and “expression of the will of the people of California” to become an independent country, but would not change California’s current government or relationship with the United States," as per the press release.
The proponent of the measure, Marcus Ruiz Evans, appears to be present on the X social media platform as '@realmarcusruiz', and overtly claims association with the Socialist Party of California (@CalSocialism).
The legality of this initiative at a federal level is uncertain. No specific language exists in our Constitution for the dissolution of states from the union. However there is a Supreme Court precedent that gives our nation guidance on this issue (Texas v. White, 1869).
"Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, writing for the majority, declared that the Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States. He stated that once a state enters the Union, it cannot lawfully secede on its own accord," claims Grok AI. "The opinion held that the Union was perpetual and that no state could unilaterally withdraw from it. The Court argued that the Constitution did not provide for the dissolution of the Union by any means short of mutual consent or revolution."
