By Mary O’KEEFE

On Nov. 4, LA County voters will see one question on their ballots – voting yes or no on Prop 50. 

Prop 50 is an usual proposal because it is driven by a decision made in another state. A “yes” vote on Prop 50 would temporarily use new congressional district maps drawn by the state legislature. These new maps would be in effect for the federal elections in 2026, 2028 and 2030. 

A  “no” vote would keep the existing congressional district maps.

In 2008, California voters approved the creation of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. This was an independent citizen committee that was tasked with drawing electoral maps and was intended to be bipartisan. This system was working well until a Texas decision to redraw its maps, specifically to allow more Republican seats in Congress. According to the digital media organization Texas Tribune, the new maps aimed to flip five Democratic seats to favor Republicans for the midterm 2026 election. The maps were redrawn and signed into law last month by Texas governor Greg Abbott. Prior to the new maps’ being drawn, Texas had redrawn districts every 10 years; they would have been redrawn in 2032.

In August over 50 Texan Democratic legislators left the state in protest against the bill but that move didn’t stop the decision but instead just postponed the inevitable. 

The Texas decision followed President Donald Trump’s interview with CNBC were he said, “I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.” 

The President did not order Texas to redraw the maps; however, a month after the CNBC statement that is what it did. 

California governor Gavin Newsom led the proposal to redraw California districts, which are expected to add about four to six Democrat seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. California has a total of 52 representative seats in the House; California has 43 Democratic seats, Republicans have nine. 

“This is not politics as usual,” is the statement Newsom has used on several interviews including on the website Yes on 50. 

At a recent Crescenta Cañada Democrat Club meeting Dr. Sara Sadhwani shared information regarding Prop 50. 

“Sadhwani is an award-winning political scientist and assistant professor of politics at Pomona College,” said Anne Tryba, Club member who introduced Sadhwani. 

In addition, Sadhwani served as a commissioner on the California 2020 Citizens Redistricting Commission and is currently an appointed member of the Los Angeles County Governance Reform Task Force, Tryba said. Sadhwani has also been published in several journals including Journal of Politics, Political Behavior, Political Research Quarterly, Journal of Women and more. 

Her background provided the audience with her insight into what Prop 50 is proposing. 

“In 2019, I was just finishing my Ph.D. and [the state] was looking for folks to apply to the Commission,” she said. 

There were 20,000 applicants.

“The first eight commissioners are selected through a lottery system, and that’s how I was chosen,” she said. “It was a very unique process, an independent process. In total, there [were] 14 members that served on the Commission: Democrats, Republicans and Independents.” 

She said she “adored” her colleagues and found them to be the “most wonderful Californians.” 

“We worked very diligently on the maps that are currently in place and we used a fair process. We do not look at partisanship. So, unlike almost all other states in the nation where the state legislature draws the lines and is using partisanship, we didn’t even look at that data. We were not even allowed to look at that data; instead we [went out] and collected testimony from communities on the ground. In total we received nearly 40,000 submissions to the Commission that we were … mapping out.” 

The Commission she was part of voted unanimously, something that is not commonly done in politics. 

“In addition, we didn’t have a single lawsuit against us, which is shocking,” she added. “In the largest state in the nation you would imagine there’s some lawsuits.”

Numerous other states faced lawsuits after their redistricting occurred. She spoke about how well the independent Commission worked but then added that times are different. 

“We are living in extraordinary times,” she said. 

She had been asked by a reporter from Politico prior to Prop 50 being announced if she would be in favor of redistricting. 

“I said, ‘If Texas does this then yes I would because it is not fair,’” she recalled. 

Her concern comes from the threat in Texas of the election being “rigged” and worried that there is no longer an even playing field. 

Sadhwani added that in the best of political worlds there would be a federal law that would require independent redistricting and it would happen every 10 years after the census. In September, Senator Alex Padilla did introduce the Redistricting Reform Act of 2025; however, it is not expected to move forward in Congress. 

In the meantime, Sadhwani said as well as the independent Commission on which she worked, she plans to vote yes on Prop 50 because of what other states, including Texas, are doing regarding redistricting and that California cannot just step back and let it happen.