On Tuesday night, nearly three-fourths of voters in California approved a ballot measure that cracks down on crime and partially repeals a previous amendment that was seen as too soft on crime.
As Breitbart reports, Proposition 36 was supported by 70.5% of California voters, with just 29% against, with 56.4% reporting in. The margins were so massive that the New York Times called the race in favor of the measure shortly after the polls closed.
Proposition 36 gained notoriety in the closing days of the campaign after Vice President Kamala Harris, the failed Democratic nominee, refused to say which way she voted on the measure when asked by reporters. Back when she was Attorney General of California, Harris had approved the text of the prior Proposition 47, which was approved by voters in 2014. Prop 47, among many other things, made it no longer a crime to commit shoplifting in California as long as the total value of stolen goods was less than $950.
In response to Prop 47, Prop 36 will increase the penalty for repeat shoplifters with two or more past convictions, and will allow for certain theft crimes to have felony sentences rather than misdemeanors.
In other major races on the ballot in California, Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) defeated former baseball player Steve Garvey (R-Calif.) to become the next U.S. Senator from California, taking the seat that was vacated by the death of Dianne Feinstein in 2023. Harris easily won the state against former President Donald Trump, although her margin appears to be significantly less than Joe Biden’s margin of 5 million votes against Trump in the 2020 election.
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