Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper’s ballot initiative, Six Californias, which would require California to split into six separate states, will not be on the 2016 ballot.
According to the California Secretary of State’s office, the measure needed 1.37 million signatures to be listed on the ballot, but failed to acquire them, eliciting only 66% of that number, according to KRON 4.
Draper, a multimillionaire who calls himself the Riskmaster, wanted the six areas to be known as Jefferson, North California, Silicon Valley, Central California, West California and South California.
Democrats had criticized Draper’s effort; they had postulated that if the measure were on the ballot in 2016, conservative support might endanger Democrats on the ballot in 2016, including the party’s presidential candidate.
The initiative reacted to the news with a Facebook post: “Despite reports from updated news story from 2014, #SixCalifornias will NOT be on Nov ’16 ballot. Visit http://www.fixcal.org for new ideas.”