With the Nov. 4 special election ballot, voters will decide on Proposition 50, which will change California’s congressional districts if passed. Also known as the “Election Rigging Response Act,” this proposition aims to redistrict California’s congressional maps in a non-census year to increase Democratic stronghold districts in the state.
Proposition 50 requires the temporary use of new congressional district maps through 2030. Bethany Close / Daily Nexus
Proposition 50 requires the temporary use of new congressional district maps through 2030. Arguments in support of Prop 50 are that it approves temporary, emergency congressional district maps to counter the Trump administration’s “scheme to rig next year’s congressional election,” affirming California’s “commitment to independent, nonpartisan redistricting after the next census.” Arguments against Prop 50 include that it removes voter protections that ban maps from being designed to favor certain political parties, according to California’s voting guide.
President Trump has been urging many states to redistrict in order to boost chances for Republican candidates in 2026, starting with Texas, Missouri and North Carolina being redistricted. Trump is currently urging Indiana, Kansas and other states to follow.
The Nexus sent out a poll via Instagram to survey students’ reactions and voting plans for the upcoming election, with the majority of students responding that they will be voting “yes.” Despite criticism towards gerrymandering, or the redrawing of electoral constituencies’ boundaries to favor one party, many students believe it is a necessary response to President Trump and Texas politicians who redrew Congressional district lines to gain five more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Third-year history of policy, law and governance major Emma Lenoski said she sees Prop 50 as a “necessary evil.” While she said she’d prefer congressional maps to be drawn by independent commissions, as California usually does, she believes it’s a “direct response” to Texas’s gerrymandering.
“I’ve been very exhausted by Democrats’ lack of effort to fight against the Trump administration, and this is one of the first tangible, effective proposals to do something,” Lenoski said.
Her only criticism of Prop 50 is its potential to encourage more states to enable partisan map drawing. However, she ultimately blames this trend on Texas Republicans.
First-year mathematics major Pranav Vijay said he will not be voting in this special election as he is registered to vote in Pennsylvania. However, Vijay believes the federal government isn’t doing anything to stop gerrymandering in red states, and therefore it is “essential to keep our democracy functioning.”
“I truly believe there is no reason to vote against Prop 50. It’s temporary. It’s a statement to the powerful people trying to rig the election that they can’t simply destroy our democracy without us putting up a fight,” Vijay said.
First-year computer science major Cameron Davis will be voting “yes” on Prop 50, and while he believes redistricting for more political power is never a good thing, he said it “directly aims to combat election rigging in other states.” He also believes it gives California a “much needed boost in our voting power,” considering it has the largest gross domestic product of any state.
Sven Olea Bailon, a second-year political science major, will be voting “yes” for Prop 50 since he believes it’s the “only option” for Democrats to combat gerrymandering attempts from Republicans, who are using their “supermajority to increase the power of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], cut [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] benefits for millions of Americans and delay votes on the Epstein files.”
However, Bailon does feel “very iffy” on gerrymandering, and while he is morally against the concept under “normal circumstances,” he believes this current special election is an exception.
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the Nov. 6 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
What shitty journalism… why didn’t you include a single quote from someone voting no? so pathetic and one-sided, typical, boring, cringe.
38% of Californians voted for Trump in 2024. 18% of California members of the House are Republican. This is not representative – and is disproportionate, and wrong. For those of you with a brain you may remember a fellow named Alexis de Tocqueville who warned about the “tyranny of the majority” in Democracy in America, arguing that a democratic majority can overpower minorities and suppress individual dissent through public opinion and government power. He believed the greatest danger in a democracy is not a lack of political power, but an irresistible strength where public opinion is unchallenged, leading to a… Read more »
Hear in Santa Barbara we our proud democrats and I am so proud of us for voting for propersition 50 to beet back the FoxNews-watching republitards. Write-wingers our idoits and those morrons do’nt even no that globel warming is reel. They have no brians we we must RESIST because IT TAKES A VILLAGE. VOTE DEMOCRAT