California’s Modoc County voted Tuesday to join neighboring Siskiyou County in exploring secession from the state, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Modoc County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0, with one supervisor absent, to consider joining Siskiyou County’s bid to secede and band with counterparts in Southern Oregon to form a new state to be called “Jefferson,” according to the Times.
A spokesperson for the Jefferson Declaration Committee, Mark Baird, told the Redding Record-Searchlight that the group would like to have a dozen counties sign onto the effort before approaching the California legislature with a secession bid.
“California is essentially ungovernable in its present size,” Baird told the Record-Searchlight. “We lack the representation to address the problems that affect the North State.”
Several Colorado counties also explored seceding to form “North Colorado” this summer, and the state’s Weld County will vote on a 51st state ballot initiative in November.
Any secession bid would require the approval of both the state legislature and Congress.
This post has been updated.
