Sonora, CA — At the advice of legal counsel, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors will not be taking a stance on the Proposition 50 ballot measure in California.
We reported earlier that it was one of the items planned for a vote by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Proposition 50, proposed by Governor Gavin Newsom, would reshape California’s congressional districts in an effort to add five Democrat held seats. It comes in response to states like Texas looking at similar moves to add Republican seats.
District Four Supervisor Steve Griefer proposed that the board pass a resolution opposing Proposition 50. It would have pointed out that the existing California Citizens Redistricting Commission was created to ensure fair and impartial elections and argue that Prop 50 would undermine that voter-approved framework.
Given the high temperature of politics at the state and national level, the issue had the potential of creating a back-and-forth debate at the meeting. However, when it came up, the acting legal counsel for the county recommended the board of supervisors pull the item from the agenda because of the legalities of taking a stance on that issue while the election office is currently collecting ballots, and offering early voting, downstairs (around 100 feet away). It has to do with voter intimidation-related rules near polling places.
Hearing the concern, Griefer then made the decision to pull the item, and it did not go any further.
