What Is Democracy?

By Kietsai Sora-Lee

What is democracy? I grew up learning democracy is when an election results in a fair result. It is fair because it’s not one group of people or a certain party whose votes are counted but the votes of the entire country. I thought that was what America represented. That was the America that my family worked so hard to immigrate to and become citizens in. But the America they imagined and told me about doesn’t seem to be the America I see today. We can change this. Let’s change this with Prop 50.

While other states are creating pro-gerrymandering propositions, Proposition 50 fights the dangers of gerrymandering. If there is no Proposition 50 it will result in an election that does not represent our state. That’s against democracy. Prop 50 would protect us from small, elite groups trying to take control of our government. Prop 50 is the chance to redraw the lines to count the votes of the current voters, so they are truly represented. It would allow for our electoral voting districts to be nonpartisan. And it is not forever, lasting only for the next few elections until 2030.

What makes America special is having the right to a fair vote. To take that away from us is like taking away America. We need to fight gerrymandering and fight for a real democracy. Make a small action today by allowing for a true America with democracy. Vote YES for Prop 50!

YES On Proposition 50: Protect Democracy

By Angel Garcia

Democracy means power of the people. But when politicians manipulate district lines to favor themselves, that power is stolen. Proposition 50 is California’s opportunity to defend fairness, representation, and the foundation of democracy itself.

Proposition 50 creates temporary congressional maps drawn by the state legislature for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections. It is a direct response to Republican-led states like Texas, where mid-decade redistricting created unfair advantages and handed them extra seats in Congress. California’s plan does not abandon its independent redistricting commission; it protects it. After 2030, the commission resumes full authority. Prop 50 ensures that in this crucial moment, California can counter nationwide gerrymandering and prevent our voices from being silenced.

My family knows what it means to depend on fairness. My dad is a disabled veteran. My mom is a nurse and the sole earner in our household. Three of the five of us live with ADHD, depression, or PTSD. We rely on healthcare benefits and leaders who value compassion, equality, and opportunity. Gerrymandering threatens those values. When maps are drawn to favor the powerful, families like mine lose representation, resources, and hope.

Opponents argue that Prop 50 undermines independence, but the truth is the opposite: it protects democracy against manipulation. It is temporary, transparent, and necessary.

Voting YES on Prop 50 means standing for fairness over fear, inclusion over inequality, and democracy over domination. It means telling every Californian, from veterans to nurses to students like me, that our voices still matter and our future still belongs to the people.

Democracy In Danger

By Mohsin Mahamed

Imagine a world where voices are silenced before they’re ever heard. A place where only the powerful rule, and fairness is but a thing of the past. Sounds like a horror movie, right? Yet, this could become the reality if Proposition 50 doesn’t pass. But what is Prop 50, and why is it so important to vote YES on it?

Abraham Lincoln once said, “Democracy is the government of the people, for the people, by the people.” That belief is the foundation of our nation, the United States of America. Now, I’m not here to give you a TED Talk on politics, but it’s clear that democracy is going in the wrong direction. So, what does that have to do with Prop 50?

In 2021, Texas made a controversial redistricting decision. Redistricting means redrawing voting boundaries every ten years due to population growth. Normally, that job belongs to the Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC), a group created by voters. But in Texas, that power shifted to the legislature, letting politicians draw their own maps. The result? States that favored Republicans, like Texas, increased their seats in Congress. Flash forward 3 years, and Trump, a Republican, wins the 2024 presidential election. This process is called gerrymandering, and it hurts democracy by redistricting certain states to help one political party.

However, Proposition 50 levels the playing field. It temporarily lets California’s legislature redistrict maps for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections, balancing the lethal effects that 2021’s gerrymandering had on democracy, before returning redistricting power to the CRC.

Proposition 50 isn’t just about changing lines on a map; it’s about protecting democracy. Vote YES on Prop 50 to make sure the power of democracy stays for the people, by the people. We have the power, don’t waste it. Thank You!

How does gerrymandering affect us?

By Onyinyechi Ibe

In 2012, when Democrats won over 1.4 million more votes than Republicans but still ended up with 33 less seats in the house of representatives and in 2022, when Alabama proposed a state congressional map that gave black people or 27 % of the population, influence over only 1 of the state’s 7 congressional districts, an important question spread. Why vote if it really doesn't matter? Gerrymandering, the malpractice of manipulating the boundaries of electoral districts to favor one party, excludes minority groups, prevents democratic representation, and increases political polarization. For example, gerrymandering creates zones that political parties are assured they will win over during elections. Hence, the competition in these “safe” zones shifts from between parties to between candidates of the same party, pushing these candidates to adopt more extreme ideological stances just to appeal to voters. Also, gerrymandering dissolves the voices of racial minorities through cracking and packing, which spreads them across different districts or  concentrates them all in a single district so they lack power in other parts of the state. Examples of previous racial gerrymandering include the Copper v. Harris case where North Carolina was found guilty of packing black voters into two congressional districts to weaken their power and in Texas where the Supreme Court ruled that the new congressional map targeted districts with non-white majorities in 2025. Gerrymandering affects youth because it doesn't model honest democracy from coming generations, it discourages voting by convincing youth that their voices are insignificant, and even jeopardizes school funding in cases where governors and state lawmakers are from opposing parties . We should band together to address this endless cycle of vote manipulation by parties. Be encouraged to take action, keeping an open mind and not being so quick to write off views that are different from your own. In that way, we can stay united as a nation.