Half of California voters turned out for Prop. 50. Here's how SoCal voted

Today marks the final deadline for California counties to certify the results of the special election on Proposition 50, the ballot measure to redraw California’s congressional maps through 2030.

Statewide, turnout was 50%, with “yes” votes winning with 64.4%.

The Associated Press called the vote within minutes of polls closing Nov. 4, but the official vote count takes several weeks. The California Secretary of State now has until Dec. 12 to certify the full results.

Here’s what we know about turnout and the vote margin across Southern California.

Did the vote margin change?

Not really.

In many races, the vote margin narrows or widens as the count goes on, but Prop. 50 stayed remarkably consistent. The margin we saw on election night is pretty much what still stands. As of this morning, 64.4% of ballots counted voted “yes,” while 35.6% were “no.”

What was turnout like?

Voters notoriously do not show up for off-year elections in the same numbers as, say, a presidential election.

But given how consequential Prop. 50 was, there was a lot of curiosity about how many voters would actually participate. About 11.6 million people showed up for the special election — a turnout of 50% statewide.

It’s not as high as California’s last special election in 2021 on whether to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom — turnout then was 58.4%. But it’s a solid showing for California, especially for an off-year special election. In fact, it’s on par with California’s 2022 midterm elections, which saw 50.8% turnout.

Here’s the voter turnout breakdown among Southern California’s six counties — this is pending final certification from the state:

• Imperial County: 35.8%
• L.A. County: 44.9%
• Orange County: 52.3%
• Riverside County: 45.9%
• San Bernardino County: 44.2%
• Ventura County: 55.3%

Where did ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes come from across SoCal?

“Yes” won the majority of the vote in all six Southern California counties — Imperial, L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura. The margin was the widest in L.A. County, where “yes” had 74.3% of the vote. The smallest was in Orange County, with “yes” votes at 55.5%.

If you’re curious to dig further into the details, here’s a breakdown of the vote by city in Orange County and a preliminary map of what the vote looked like across L.A. County neighborhoods.