Recently, the state of California approved a petition for gathering signatures to put the question of California Secession on a future ballot.
IF the petition gets enough signatures for the ballot and IF the measure receives a majority vote, I recommend the following process for addressing the matter:
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As the state of California is rife with election problems, the state would first be required to implement universal voter ID, ban all forms of mail-in voting, and ensure that all votes are counted by hand. Other election integrity measures could also be considered as additional requirements. This would ensure that there can be no question as to the validity of any California secession votes.
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There would then be a second secession vote to confirm that, when conducted in a fair and transparent manner, a majority of the state does in fact wish to secede from the United States.
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As there are large portions of California that wish to secede from the state of California, it would be required that there be a county-by-county vote in which the population of each county would vote on whether to secede from the state of California. The counties that no longer wish to be a part of California would then form one or more new states. This process would be negotiated to ensure that all those seceding from California and the US at large would be satisfied with the results. Among other things, ensuring that each county doesn’t form its own state and that the counties forming the new states would be happy with their new arrangements.
Additionally, this third step would ensure that those who wish to remain part of the United States would not be forced to leave to satisfy the whims of those who do wish to leave, and minimizes the amount of land that would be lost from the Union.
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After the division of California has been completed and the new states have been admitted to the union, the state of California would then hold a third and final secession vote to confirm that what is left of California still wants to secede from the union.
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Should this third and final vote pass with a 2/3 majority, a negotiated process for California becoming its own nation would begin. This process would require a period of at least one year, at minimum to ensure that those who wished to move out of California and remain a US Citizen would have opportunity to do so and that those who wished to move to California to be a citizen of the New California Republic could more easily do so.
The new California nation would be prohibited from joining any other nation in the future other than rejoining the United States, ensuring that this process could not be used by a foreign power to steal territory from the United States.
Personally, I would prefer that California not secede at all, but if the state is going to try to claim that it wants to leave, I would recommend a proposal be put forward that at least pretends the US is willing to discuss the matter but in a way that addresses the elephants in the room.
Best case scenario, it fixes some major problems with California without the state actually trying to secede.