While the effort has cleared a major hurdle by getting on the ballot, it will be a tough sell to voters and would require Congressional approval…

The proposal would split America’s largest state into three: California would be reduced to a coastal strip running south from Monterey to just past Los Angeles.

The Bay Area would be part of a new Northern California state with a border that starts north of Monterey, runs east and north to the Nevada state line, and includes everything north to the Oregon border.

A new Southern California state would run south from the Northern California border, skirt around the coast from Monterey past Los Angeles, and include San Diego, Death Valley and the rest of the state east to Nevada and Arizona.