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‘It’s time for a divorce’: Calexit supporters relaunch California independence bid 2020 ballot
The election of President Donald Trump in 2016 had a lot of unhappy Californians considering the highly unlikely possibility of seceding.
An organization called Yes California even filed an initiative last year to hold a statewide special election asking voters if they wanted to form their own country – though the leaders ultimately abandoned their signature-gathering effort because of negative attention surrounding the motivations of campaign founder Louis Marinelli, who was living in Russia at the time.
Now “Calexit,” as they dubbed the proposal, is back. And so is Marinelli, who moved home to California this week to help relaunch their crusade.
“I enjoyed my life in Russia,” Marinelli said in an interview, “but something I care deeply about is California independence, and I was disappointed it wasn’t picking up the steam I felt it should have.”