[SFGP] Greenzine: Vote NO on Prop 50

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Tues, Nov 4
GREENZINE
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Dear Greens,

    It's Election Day!  If you haven't already voted by mail, please
drop your ballot off at the polls, and vote NO on Prop 50, the
Democrats' attack on voting rights in CA (see the link, or the
complete text below):
https://www.sfgreenparty.org/endorsements/113-endorsement-no-on-prop-50

    Note that we will be hosting a holiday gathering instead of our
regularly scheduled members' meetings in November or December.  We'll
be announcing that here when a date is set.

    Here's our Green Voter Guide to Prop 50:

NO on Prop 50 - Newsom Gerrymandering

Prop 50 would temporarily repeal the Citizens Redistricting Commission
that California voters created in 2008 and further empowered in 2010.
It would create new gerrymandered Congressional districts drawn by
Democrats in the state legislature for elections in 2026, 2028, and
2030.  As a result, CA Democrats are expected to win 5 more
Congressional seats than they currently hold.  Governor Newsom's move
is in response to gerrymandering in Texas, where Republicans are
redrawing district lines to win 5 more seats currently held by Texas
Democrats.  Because gerrymandering is not compatible with democracy,
one of the Green Party's Key Values (link:
https://www.sfgreenparty.org/10-key-values), we strongly oppose Prop
50.

In any democracy, voters must be able to choose who we want to
represent us, rather than politicians picking which voters they want
in their districts.  Under Prop 50 or the proposed system in Texas,
any Democrat who's been gerrymandered into a district with a large
majority of Republicans would basically lose their right to vote.  So
would a Republican who's been moved into a district with an
overwhelming majority of Democrats.

Newsom claims that eliminating Californians' right to choose our own
representatives is necessary to stop Trump from imposing a
dictatorship on the entire country, which Republicans would go along
with if they maintain control of Congress after the 2026 election.
But regardless of how CA votes on Prop 50, Republicans are almost
certain to lose their current 5-seat majority in the House.  In 20 of
the last 22 midterm elections going back to 1938, the party in power
has lost House seats, with the only two exceptions being years when the
incumbent president had job approval from over 60% of Americans (link:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-history-tells-us-about-the-2026-midterm-elections/).
In most of these elections, the party in power lost a very
large number of seats: Republicans lost 26 seats in 1982 under Reagan,
while Democrats lost 54 seats in 1994 under Clinton and 63 in 2010
under Obama.  During Trump's first term, Republicans lost 41 seats to
Democrats in the 2018 midterm election.  Trump's behavior in his
second term has been far more authoritarian and unhinged.  His
Gestapo-like ICE raids have even resulted in the arrests of some of
his own supporters.  MAGA policies are increasingly unpopular among
all Americans outside of a small fascist fringe, so we expect a huge
electoral swing away from Trump in the 2026 midterms.  A couple of
gerrymandered seats in CA or Texas isn't going to change that.

The best solution to ensure all Californians' votes count would be to
change all our legislative elections to a proportional representation
system.  The current balance among CA's 52 congressmembers is 43
Democrats (83%), 9 Republicans (17%), and 0 Greens and others.  In
contrast, voters in CA are 45% registered Democrats, 25% Republicans,
22% Decline to State, and 7% Others (link:
https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/voter-registration-statistics).
Greens routinely get from 2% to 4% of the vote in statewide races.
Under proportional representation, this would translate into 1 or 2
House seats for Greens, while Democrats would win almost twice as many
seats as Republicans.  Everybody's vote would count, including rural
Democrats and urban Republicans.

However, under the extreme gerrymandering in Prop 50, California's
congressional delegation would become even more unrepresentative of
our voters.  If Prop 50 passes, Democrats would take over 5 Republican
seats in CA, resulting in a 2028 delegation with 48 Democrats (92%), 4
Republicans (8%), and 0 Greens and others (link:
https://news.ballotpedia.org/2025/09/23/california-proposition-50-would-shift-five-republican-held-congressional-districts-toward-democrats-based-on-presidential-election-results/).
People from rural areas in communities north of Redding would be
"represented" by a suburban Democrat from Marin county.

Greens previously endorsed both ballot measures to create and expand the
powers of the Citizens Redistricting Commission.  In endorsing the second
measure, we wrote:

  Prop 20 will allow the voter-approved Citizens Redistricting
  Commission to draw California's congressional districts in addition
  to state legislative districts.  Under Prop 20, Sacramento
  politicians will no longer be able to draw election districts to
  help ensure reelection for their friends in Congress - even when
  they ignore voters.

  Prop 20 also ensures that our communities can no longer be carved up
  by politicians just to ensure the political outcome they want.  This
  kind of gerrymandering, discussed by SF Green party activist Steve
  Hill in his book "Fixing Elections," is one factor in our current
  system that reduces democracy.

All Americans need to stand up to the authoritarian Trump regime to
defend what little democracy we have left.  Newsom's scheme to take
away voting rights from Californians is a move in the opposite
direction.  We can't fight MAGA with Blue MAGA.  Vote NO on Prop 50,
and instead help us to build a stronger Green Party that will stand up
to fascist politicians from both sides of the aisle!

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