After months of ads and robocalls encouraging a “yes” or “no” vote on Proposition 50, California’s special election closes today, and students are waiting in anticipation of results.
Prop. 50, the Election Rigging Response Act, is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to Texas’ redistricting that added five GOP seats in Congress. The measure would temporarily redistrict California in favor of Democrats until the next census is taken in 2030 in an attempt to “level the playing field” ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, proponents say.
Those against the measure claim that Prop. 50 constitutes a “power grab by politicians,” disregarding constitutional safeguards and “taking California backwards.”
A “yes” vote on the proposition would move to enact the redistricting, and a “no” would prevent it.
Wesley Clum, a freshman political economy major and Democrat, is a New Mexico resident and ineligible to vote in the California special election. However, he expressed concern regarding the effects of Prop. 50 on the larger political landscape.
“I think that generally, [Prop. 50] incurs a lot of issues with our democratic process that I just don’t think are reasonable in combating the redistricting that Republicans are doing in Texas and many other states,” Clum said. “Generally, outsourcing representation to other states is not the solution.”
Both Democrats and Republicans believe the measure entails significant implications for the future of democracy. USC Annenberg Adjunct Professor Luke Harold collected data regarding election contributions in different areas of the state. Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Francisco lean “yes,” while Palo Alto has contributed significant donations to “No on 50.” In Palo Alto, more than $32 million came from only 19 noted donations.
Diego Andrades, Assistant Director of the USC Center for the Political Future (CPF) — a bipartisan organization promoting civic engagement and political discourse on campus — said this election might indicate how voters feel about each party on a broader level.
“Even though the ballot measure is a proposition about California’s maps and redistricting, that’s not necessarily what voters are thinking … they think it’s a referendum on Donald Trump,” Andrades said. “The ‘Yes on 50’ side has done a really good job about tying this ballot measure to a pure litmus test on Trump’s presidency.”
Andrades also noted that the passage of Prop. 50 could set the scene for upcoming midterm elections and give Democrats in California a leg up.
“This [election] might give the roadmap for how Democrats win the house or other elections in 2026, or it could give the roadmap for how Republicans can defend against those elections,” Andrades said.
Clum said he believes the election is representative of larger issues surrounding voter rights.
“The whole idea of just mass gerrymandering is really problematic,” Clum said. “Decades and decades of precedent and rights that we’ve built up through the Civil Rights Movement [are] being completely tarnished in this moment by redistricting all across the United States.”
Sophomore American Studies major Raquel Bell, who voted “yes” on Prop. 50 at the USC Village ballot box, implored California residents to “go to the polls and vote.”
Just as Clum views a vote against Prop. 50 a way to protect democracy, Bell sees hers the same way. She believes the measure is necessary to protect minority voters and Democrats in Texas and across the country.
“This vote is special because, with gerrymandering and with redlining, there has been a history in this country [of trying] to suppress votes and [trying] to take the voices of others,” Bell said. “This election is very special to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Californians have cast almost 7 million early ballots in this election. Further voting results will be released after 8 p.m. Tuesday, when voting ends and ballots are counted.