California voters will get chance to repeal death penalty in November California voters will get the opportunity to repeal the death penalty as part of this year's general election on November 6th, FOX40 reports. California Secretary of State Debra Brown announced Monday a measure to reduce the sentences of the state's death row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole has made it onto the November ballot. The measure is the fifth to make it onto the ballot so far in the state. The measure got at least 555,236 valid signatures, according to a news release by the Secretary of State's Office. California currently has more than 700 prisoners on death row, but only 13 have been executed in since 1976. According to a three-year study by justice professionals, California's capital punishment system costs $183 million more to administer than life without possibility of parole, the Los Angeles Times reported, adding that the study found it cost $4 billion to fund the 13 executions since 1976. Thirty-four states have a death penalty, but that number has fallen in recent years. Four states -- Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York -- have dropped the death penalty in the past five years. Connecticut is set to become the fifth after the state's House voted earlier this month in favor of a capital punishment ban.