State Supreme Court to leave boundaries intact for Senate races

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The California Supreme Court, faced with a possible ballot measure to scrap newly drawn election districts, decided Friday to leave the boundaries in place for this year’s state Senate races.

Republican opponents of the new Senate districts asked the state high court to discard them in anticipation that voters may do so in November. A nonpartisan citizens commission drew the boundaries, which Republicans fear will reduce their numbers in the Legislature.

A Republican-backed group collected signatures for a November ballot measure to abolish the new districts and asked the court to either draw new lines or use old boundaries for state Senate races in June and November.

State officials are scheduled to complete a count of the signatures on Feb. 24. So far, fewer than half the counties, and primarily smaller ones, have finished their counts, verifying that 78% of the signatures were valid. If that ratio holds, the referendum will qualify.

The court’s decision, written by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, was unanimous.

[For the record 11:03 a.m. Jan. 27: An earlier version of this post omitted the first name of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.]

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-- Maura Dolan