Thumbnail photo: Under new proposed Congressional District boundaries, Del Norte County would share a representative with Shasta, Siskiyou and Modoc counties, which are currently in District 1. | Photo courtesy of the Senate Election and Constitutional Amendments Committee. Voters wanting to weigh in on Proposition 50 — California’s attempt to counter a Texas mid-decade redistricting proposal — shouldn’t wait until Election Day to mail in their ballot, County Clerk Recorder Alissia Northrup says. Since Del Norte is more than 50 miles away from California’s six U.S. Postal Service processing facilities, ballots may not be postmarked until after Nov. 4. Northrup and her staff can’t count ballots that aren’t postmarked on or before Election Day. “We just want to get the word out to people,” she told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. “Because they’re not going to be upset at the post office, they’re going to be upset at us.” Northrup’s staff dropped empty ballots off at the post office on Friday. People have either received them or will find them in their mailbox in the next few days. Voters have also begun participating in the elections process — two people brought their ballots into the county elections office on Monday, Northrup said. But because of the short timeframe, Northrup said there will be a few tweaks voters may notice about this election cycle. For one thing, they won’t receive a separate sample ballot or a separate state voter information guide, Del Norters will find an insert in with their official ballot. Northrup said she’s also consolidating the county’s 19 precincts. The polling place for Precincts 1, 2 and 3 will be at the Del Norte County Courthouse. Voters who are in Precincts 4, 5, 6 and 7 will go to the Crescent City Masonic Lodge on 9th Street to cast their ballots in person. In Smith River, Precincts 8 and 9 will vote at Howonquet Hall on Indian Court. november 4 2025 polling locations-1Download “People need to pay attention and if they do want to go to the polls, each ballot has that sheet in it that has all the polling places listed,” she said. “They can always come to my office if they don’t know where else to go.” If approved, Proposition 50, the Election Rigging Response Act, would use new “legislatively drawn” congressional district maps from 2026 until the California Citizens Redistricting Commission creates new maps following the 2030 U.S. Census. California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed allowing the state legislature to redraw Congressional maps after the Texas State Legislature approved a new redistricting plan in August that would result in five more seats for Republicans. Under the new maps, Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, Marin, parts of Mendocino and Sonoma County would be part of Congressional District 2, which Congressman Jared Huffman currently represents. District 2 would also include Shasta, Siskiyou and Modoc counties, according to Assembly Bill 604, which would take effect if Prop 50 succeeds. At a Crescent City town hall meeting on Sunday, Huffman said he hated partisan gerrymandering “like the plague” and that he voted against his own party in support of California’s independent redistricting commission. According to him, mid-decade is something you’re “not supposed to do,” yet the Republican leadership in Washington D.C. began the process with North Carolina about two years ago. “North Carolina, we call it a purple state, but all the statewide officials in North Carolina are Democrats. North Carolina’s a lot more blue than people think,” Huffman said. “You know (what) the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats in the House right now? Three seats. That mid-decade redistricting in North Carolina is the reason that Mike Johnson is Speaker of the House today and not Hakeem Jeffries.” While Huffman described redistricting as something that happens in a backroom that voters find out about later, he said Proposition 50 brings that out into the open. “The map is actually going on the ballot,” he said. “The map has me taking on this vast beautiful stretch of California across the entire North State all the way to Nevada. It’s something I’m willing to do. It’s a big district. It’s going to be a challenge for me, I know.” Huffman also heard his constituents’ opinions, including one from a local elected official that didn’t jive with his own. Del Norte Unified School District Michael Greer disagreed with Huffman’s statement that Proposition 50 is about transparency. He pointed out that 35,000 Californians have an opportunity to participate in the independent redistricting process. “Right now I know your district is being cut off,” Greer told Huffman. “Your district will take in the coast, it’ll take in Fort Bragg, but it won't take in Ukiah. You’re splitting it. And if you look at the requirements in the California Constitution, it tells us that certain requirements are there. The only requirement in these new maps is the number of people.” Another resident, PJ Estlund spoke up in favor of Proposition 50. “Unlike Texas and the rest of these great states that are just shoving (redistricting) down the throat of their citizens, the State of California put it on the ballot so we all get to choose,” she said Sunday. On Monday, Northrup pointed out that Del Norte had shared Congressional, State Senate and Assembly districts with Siskiyou and Shasta counties before the state’s independent redistricting commission grouped Del Norte with other coastal counties. “We’re still going to be Senate District 2, Assembly District 2 and Congressional District 2,” she said. “Only we would have different counties with us than we currently do.” In addition to submitting their ballots in the mail before Election Day, voters can weigh in on Proposition 50 by visiting any Del Norte polling place or the Del Norte County Elections Office at the Flynn Center in Crescent City. 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