Measure to Restore Affirmative Action in California Fails

By Christine Mai-Duc 

California voters have rejected a measure that would have allowed affirmative action in public employment, contracting and university admissions 24 years after it was initially banned.

As of Wednesday morning local time, results showed 56% of Californians voted against Proposition 16 and 44% in favor, according to the Associated Press.

In addition, the hotly contested Proposition 22, which exempts gig companies such as Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and DoorDash Inc. from a new state labor law, passed with 58% support as of Wednesday morning, according to the AP.

Another hard fought measure that would allow tax increases on commercial property, ending limits that have been in place since 1978's Proposition 13, was too close to call as of Wednesday morning. Opponents of this year's Proposition 15 led 52% to 48%, according to the AP, with results from 72% of precincts tabulated.

The result of the affirmative-action measure was a blow to proponents who have long wanted to remove California from the list of nine states that forbid affirmative action. They said it is necessary to increase enrollment of Black and Latino students in the state's higher-education system, which is below their share of the state's public high school graduates.

The measure sought to repeal Proposition 209, passed by voters in 1996, which prohibited the consideration of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin by state and local government agencies and public universities.

Supporters of affirmative action have monitored polling on the issue for more than a decade. Over the summer, as protests raged following the killing of George Floyd and a heightened focus on racial justice issues, Prop. 16's backers sensed a path to victory. The state legislature narrowly passed a bill to place the question on the ballot and the Yes on 16 campaign drew support from Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and a cadre of elected officials, public university leaders and corporations.

Backers had hoped shifts in California's demographics and politics -- the state is now majority nonwhite and no Republican has been elected to statewide office since 2006 -- would boost its chances of passage.

All together, supporters raised more than $31 million, most of it from wealthy individuals including Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, Patricia Quillin, wife of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, and Quinn Delaney, a former civil rights attorney who gave $7.9 million.

Opponents were led in part by a vocal contingent of Asian-American activists who helped derail a similar effort in 2014. They raised just over $1.6 million, with support from a group funded by conservative legal activist Ed Blum and small donations from Chinese American individuals.

Borrowing quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr., they argued that a return to affirmative action in schools and public contracting would undermine a system based on merit and take the wrong approach of fighting discrimination with more discrimination.

While Asian-Americans have generally been supportive of affirmative action in national surveys, polls have shown a decline in support among Chinese Americans in particular, especially among recent immigrants who are concerned affirmative action will threaten their children's ability to gain entry into California's elite public universities.

Asian-Americans are overrepresented at University of California schools compared with their share of the state's public high school graduates.

--Melissa Korn contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 04, 2020 14:30 ET (19:30 GMT)

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