RED BLUFF, Calif. (AP) — Voters in a Northern California county have defeated a measure calling for the creation of a 51st state named Jefferson, in a test of whether a secessionist movement has sails in a region long accustomed to feeling overlooked by the rest of the state.
Fifty-nine percent of Del Norte County voters rejected the secessionist measure in unofficial returns Tuesday. In Tehama County, a secessionist proposal was leading by 53 percent, with votes continuing to be tallied Wednesday.
A similar but unrelated question on the ballot in Siskiyou County, to rename it the Republic of Jefferson, failed with only 44 percent of voters in favor.
The measures in Del Norte and Tehama counties asked their boards of supervisors to join an effort to form the breakaway state of Jefferson.
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