A Bay Area billionaire’s plan to split California into six states will not be put before voters come November 2016 (not that it would have passed).
As KQED reports, “Six Californias" has failed to gather the 807,000 valid signatures required to make it on the ballot — "valid" being the operative word.
As we told you in July, the initiative's moneybags backer Tim Draper claimed the campaign was submitting more than a million signatures to the Secretary of State’s office, but the final count reveals that it's 14,550 valid voter signatures short. The campaign was accused of voter fraud by Californians who said they were told the measure did the exact opposite of what it intended to do.
Draper, who spent more than $5 million of his own money on the campaign, isn't taking the news well. In an email statement, he tells KQED: “Six Californias collected more than enough signatures, and we are confident that a full check of the signatures would confirm that fact.”
And he's blaming its demise on, shocker, California's government: “It is unfortunate that the current, archaic, system has delayed this process,” Draper said.
Below, watch Draper in a recent appearance on The Colbert Report and take comfort that this man is not making any decisions about our great state.
[KQED]
Previously:
'Six Californias' Accused Of Voter Fraud In Signature Collection
Silicon Valley Billionaire's '6 Californias' Measure May Be On 2016 Ballot
Venture Capitalist's 'Six Californias' Plan Moves Forward, Is Still A Terrible Idea
Tech Investor's Ballot Initiative Wants To Split California Into Six States
