Prop 50

Voters in Stanislaus and Merced counties showed less enthusiasm for Proposition 50 than elsewhere in California – to no one’s surprise.

The measure is Gov. Newsom’s response to the growing national fight over redistricting, sparked by President Trump’s push for Republicans in Texas to redraw their maps. If Proposition 50 passes, the state’s political map will look different from Sonoma down to San Diego.

The Department of Justice announced Friday it will monitor polling sites in six jurisdictions next month: Passaic County, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside and Fresno counties in California “to ensure transparency, ballot security, and compliance with federal law.”

Opponents of Prop. 50 want voters to resist gerrymandering. Supporters are doing everything they can to make the election about Trump.

Viral videos are circulating in the lead-up to California’s Nov. 4 special election on Proposition 50, that the small holes in the mail-in ballot envelopes are meant to show how someone voted.

The former Democratic president is appearing in a 30-second ad urging California voters to approve a ballot proposal that could add as many as five Democrat-held House seats in California.

The fight for control of the U.S. House is underway in California. Voters are considering whether to drastically reshape congressional districts to add as many as five Democratic seats in advance of the 2026 midterm elections.

President Donald Trump’s call to redraw U.S. House districts before the 2026 elections has led to a wave of political maneuvering among state-level Republicans and Democrats. The current mid-decade redistricting is being driven partly by the close political margins in Congress.