Daily Digit: California probably won't break into 3 states, but it's fun to imagine

Daily Digit is the story behind the numbers that make our world work. Today we’re looking at an ambitious proposal to break California into three states. Tim Draper, the billionaire behind the 3 Californias plan, believes that it makes sense to break the state up into regions with distinct identities: Northern California, Southern California and California. After receiving more than 400,000 signatures, the measure will appear on California midterm ballots this November. Voters will decide whether to keep the status quo or to divide, although the decision would still need to be ratified by the state government and the federal government, and would likely be challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court. However, it’s unlikely it will come to that as the measure has yet to gain popular support among a majority of Californians. The last time a state divided was in 1863 with the creation of West Virginia.