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Congressional Redistricting Referendum Enters Circulation

Redistricting. Congressional Districts. Referendum.

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced today that the proponent of a proposed referendum measure may begin collecting petition signatures.

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on referendum petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials, and the referendum may be circulated for signatures.

The Attorney General's official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

REDISTRICTING. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS. REFERENDUM. Congressional districts are revised every ten years following the federal census. This year, the voter-approved California Citizens Redistricting Commission revised the boundaries of California's 53 congressional districts. This referendum petition, if signed by the required number of registered voters and filed with the Secretary of State, will: (1) Place the revised congressional boundaries on the ballot and prevent them from taking effect unless approved by the voters at the next statewide election; and (2) Require court-appointed officials to set interim boundaries for use in the next statewide election. (11-0036)

The proponent for this measure, Julie Vandermost, must collect signatures of 504,760 registered voters – the number equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2010 gubernatorial election – in order to qualify it for the next statewide ballot. The proponent has 90 days from the date the Congressional district maps were certified by the California Redistricting Commission to request and receive a title and summary from the Attorney General, and circulate petitions for the referendum. The maps may be found on the Commission's website at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov. The Commission certified the Congressional district maps on August 15, 2011. The proponent has until November 13, 2011, to submit petition signatures to county election officials.

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1503 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0036.

The referendum proponent can be reached at (916) 442-7757.

To sign up for regular ballot measure updates via email, RSS feed, or Twitter, go to www.sos.ca.gov/multimedia.

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