California Group Begins Effort for Ballot Question to Leave US

The initiative for California to secede from the United States, or ‘Calexit,' could potentially be placed on the 2018 ballot as proponents are now able to collect signatures for the measure.


Interest in the two-year-old Yes California Independence Campaign increased after the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, as the controversial real-estate magnate lost the state by some 4-million votes.

To qualify for ballot status proponents of Calexit, named in reference to Brexit, the United Kingdom’s recent decision to leave the European Union, must collect 585,407 signatures from registered voters over the coming 180 days.

The movement is based on frustration with Californians paying more to Washington DC than the state receives in federal spending. The website reads: "As the sixth largest economy in the world, California is more economically powerful than France and has a population larger than Poland. Point by point, California compares and competes with countries, not just the 49 other states," explaining that the referendum "is about California taking its place in the world, standing as an equal among nations."

In December 2016 the movement opened an office in Moscow to act as a kind of embassy and cultural center, as part of an effort to lay the groundwork for diplomatic relations between Russia and a sovereign California Republic.
 [sputniknews.com]
28/1/17