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Be sure to follow us on Twitter for more, or subscribe to our free daily newsletter and the California Politics Podcast</s>The question could appear on a statewide ballot in 2018 if a group of secessionists has its way.

Yes California has been pushing for the state to break away from the United States and become its own country for several years.

Marcus Evans, the vice president of Yes California, filed a proposed ballot measure with the Attorney General’s Office on Monday that would appear on the November 2018 gubernatorial ballot.

“We always thought that if we just connected with the people who thought about this, but didn’t tell their friends and family because they would be seen as kooky and weird, that the quiet population would become vocal,” Evans said. “If you don’t want to support our suggestion, that’s fine. Let’s just have the conversation and discuss the facts.”

Yes California’s plan to secede is a long shot.

The measure aimed at the 2018 ballot attempts to strike language from the California Constitution that says the state is “an inseparable part of the United States of America, and the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land.” It also asks voters if they want to secede from the country.

If voters approve the measure, it would establish a special election in March 2019 to ask voters again if they want California to become an independent country, Yes California wrote in a ballot measure filing.

More than half of the registered voters in the state must participate in the special election and at least 55 percent must vote “yes” for the proposal to move forward, according to information submitted by the group. If voters approve the measure, “the governor shall carry and shepherd an application for the newly independent Republic of California to join the United Nations,” they say.

Louis J. Marinelli, president of Yes California, said the group plans to go through the United Nations to seek independence because they don’t believe Congress would sign off on a California exit plan.

“We’re not ashamed about going around Washington to achieve it,” Marinelli said. “Congress can’t tie its shoes. We can wait our whole life while Congress tries to grapple with this, and they won’t do anything.”

Evans said the group filed the ballot proposal in response to an uptick in support in a deep-blue state following the election of Donald Trump.

About 11,000 people liked the Facebook page for Yes California Independence Campaign on election night. The group was nearly to 28,000 likes as of Monday. Supporters have even dubbed the movement “Calexit,” playing off “Brexit,” Britain’s historic decision to leave the European Union in June.

Now the group needs to gather more than half a million signatures from registered California voters for the proposal to qualify for the ballot.

Yes California’s main argument is that California and the U.S. have conflicting values, and the state pays more than its fair share in federal taxes to subsidize other states. Meanwhile, he said, the state’s infrastructure is crumbling, schools are failing and millions of people live in poverty. Evans believes California, which would have the world’s sixth-largest economy if it were a standalone country, would be better off as an independent nation.</s>The question could appear on a statewide ballot in 2018 if a group of secessionists has its way.

Yes California has been pushing for the state to break away from the United States and become its own country for several years.

Marcus Evans, the vice president of Yes California, filed a proposed ballot measure with the Attorney General’s Office on Monday that would appear on the November 2018 gubernatorial ballot.

“We always thought that if we just connected with the people who thought about this, but didn’t tell their friends and family because they would be seen as kooky and weird, that the quiet population would become vocal,” Evans said. “If you don’t want to support our suggestion, that’s fine. Let’s just have the conversation and discuss the facts.”

Yes California’s plan to secede is a long shot.

The measure aimed at the 2018 ballot attempts to strike language from the California Constitution that says the state is “an inseparable part of the United States of America, and the United States Constitution is the supreme law of the land.” It also asks voters if they want to secede from the country.

If voters approve the measure, it would establish a special election in March 2019 to ask voters again if they want California to become an independent country, Yes California wrote in a ballot measure filing.

More than half of the registered voters in the state must participate in the special election and at least 55 percent must vote “yes” for the proposal to move forward, according to information submitted by the group. If voters approve the measure, “the governor shall carry and shepherd an application for the newly independent Republic of California to join the United Nations,” they say.

Louis J. Marinelli, president of Yes California, said the group plans to go through the United Nations to seek independence because they don’t believe Congress would sign off on a California exit plan.

“We’re not ashamed about going around Washington to achieve it,” Marinelli said. “Congress can’t tie its shoes. We can wait our whole life while Congress tries to grapple with this, and they won’t do anything.”

But one expert says not so fast.

Daniel Farber is a law professor at U.C. Berkeley and has written about secessionist movements throughout America’s history.

Yes California’s plan to appeal to the United Nations wouldn’t hold up in court, he said. Other countries might hesitate to embrace California as an independent nation anyway, particularly if issues of currency and military were not negotiated with the remainder of the country first. Other nations likely wouldn’t want to “risk the blowback of being on the losing side,” he said.

The only legal avenue for California to secede requires the state to win approval by two-thirds of Congress and three-quarters of the states in the country, he said. Farber pointed to a Supreme Court decision, Texas vs. White, in 1869 that said Texas “entered into an indissoluble relation” when it became part of the United States. The case related to bonds sold by Texas during the Civil War.

“I don’t think it gets to the point where we have to worry about those details and how to make it work,” Farber said. “Many of us have had that thought from time to time, but in the end it’s not really a feasible option as far as I can see.”

Evans said the group filed the ballot proposal in response to an uptick in support in a deep-blue state following the election of Donald Trump.

About 11,000 people liked the Facebook page for Yes California Independence Campaign on election night. The group was nearly to 28,000 likes as of Monday. Supporters have even dubbed the movement “Calexit,” playing off “Brexit,” Britain’s historic decision to leave the European Union in June.

Now the group needs to gather more than half a million signatures from registered California voters for the proposal to qualify for the ballot.

Yes California’s main argument is that California and the U.S. have conflicting values, and the state pays more than its fair share in federal taxes to subsidize other states. Meanwhile, he said, the state’s infrastructure is crumbling, schools are failing and millions of people live in poverty. Evans believes California, which would have the world’s sixth-largest economy if it were a standalone country, would be better off as an independent nation.</s>Supporters of Californian independence have taken the first step towards secession from the US by submitting a ballot proposal to the state attorney general.

A group called called the ‘Yes California Independence Campaign’ submitted their proposal for a ballot measure on removing a piece of the state’s Constitution that describes it as an “inseparable” part of America.

The group has been around since 2014, but the idea of California’s secession gained momentum since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.

On Monday, the Yes California Independence Campaign proposed to include the matter on the ballot during the November 2018 gubernatorial elections across the US, where 39 state and territorial governorships as well as numerous other state and local elections would be contested.

The request was filed with the attorney general’s office, asking it to “prepare a circulating title and summary of the enclosed ballot measure: “Calexit: The California Independence Plebiscite of 2019.”

The independence vote would be held sometime in the spring of 2019, provided that the group changes the California Constitution and then collects the number signatures required to put the measure on the 2018 gubernatorial ballot.

The idea of a so-called “Calexit” was first brought up by the group more than two years ago but it only gained traction after Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory on November 8.

According to Marcus Ruiz Evans, the group’s vice president, the Yes California Independence Campaign has thousands of followers on various social media websites and some 13,000 people have volunteered to collect signatures.

Evans said that Trump’s election showed that his organization was right in doubting the current electoral system’s ability to bring real change.

With a population of nearly 38.5 million people, California has 53 electoral votes, more than any US state. All of the state’s electoral votes went to Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The final results of the presidential vote in the state would determine how many signature the group needs to place the matter on the ballot.

Evans said if 55 percent of the voters supported a referendum on the secession, the group would be able to take the matter to the United Nations according to the world body’s self-determination treaty.

The majority support would amount to an internationally recognized threshold which in turn requires the state’s governor to ask the UN to recognize “the Republic of California” as a member.

To change the Federal Constitution which does not allow secession, the group needs the approval of Congress and 38 states, experts say.
The campaign for California secession files a petition to seek signatures.