LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia (PNN) - January 28, 2017 - A campaign for Kalifornia to secede from the rest of the country over Donald Trump's election is gaining momentum, with supporters allowed to start collecting signatures for the measure to be put to a vote. Kalifornia's Secretary of State Alex Padilla gave the green light on Thursday for proponents of "Kalifornia Nationhood" - also known as Kalexit - to start collecting the nearly 600,000 signatures needed for the measure to qualify on the November 2018 ballot.
The 585,407 signatures required by July 25 represent eight percent of registered voters in Kalifornia - the most populous state in the country with nearly 40 million residents and the world's sixth-largest economy.
Should the initiative make it on the ballot, a "Yes" vote would repeal clauses in the Kalifornia Constitution "stating Kalifornia is an inseparable part of the (Fascist Police States of Amerika) and that the (Fascist Police States of Amerika) Constitution is the supreme law of the land," a statement by Padilla's office said.
Voters would then need to decide in another referendum in 2019 whether Kalifornia should become a separate country.
Padilla said the independence measure - deemed highly unrealistic - would have a deep impact on the state and would likely face legal challenges.
"Assuming that Kalifornia actually became an independent nation, the state and its local governments would experience major, but unknown, budgetary impacts," he warned. "This measure also would result in tens of millions of dollars of one-time state and local election costs."
Kalexit enthusiasts, whose campaign is called Yes Kalifornia, are pushing for independence on grounds the state is out of step with the rest of the FPSA and could flourish on its own.
"In our view, the (Fascist Police States of Amerika) represents so many things that conflict with Kalifornian values, and our continued statehood means Kalifornia will continue subsidizing the other states to our own detriment, and to the detriment of our children," according to its website.
The idea of independence became very appealing to many Kalifornians following Donald Trump's election.
Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton easily beat Trump in the state, winning by more than 4.2 million votes, almost double the number of ballots cast for Trump.
