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Results: California ballot measures
Ten propositions are on California’s ballot, with voters deciding on crime, rent control, and more.
LOS ANGELES - California's Proposition 6, an amendment supporters say would "end slavery" for inmates, is currently getting more NO votes than YES as officials continue tallying the ballots.
With more than 50% of the precincts reported as of Wednesday, 6 p.m., Prop 6 has drawn more than 5 million (55%) NO votes, while about 4.2 million (45%) voted YES.
If Prop 6 fails, forced labor in state prisons (involuntary servitude) as punishment for a crime will continue.
The California Constitution allows inmates in prisons to work shifts in various jobs like cooking, cleaning, and performing laundry services.
Inmates do not have a choice to take work assignments. If they refuse to work, they can be disciplined. Organizations like ACLU California Action and League of Women Voters of California have called Prop 6 the "End Slavery in California" act.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 60,000 inmates currently work in California prisons.
With only half of Californian's votes counted as of Wednesday morning, the decision on Proposition 1, a measure to restructure the funding of mental health and homeless support, remained too close to call.
Proposition 1, strongly supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would reallocate roughly $6.4 billion of tax dollars to build mental health treatment facilities and housing and assist the homeless.
Although the measure is not expected to substantially change the number of unhoused people in California, it had bipartisan support to help address the state's lack of housing and a mental health crisis that has been brewing for 75 years.
But with roughly half of the state's primary ballots counted as of Wednesday mid-afternoon Pacific time, voters were nearly evenly divided, with 50.2% supporting Proposition 1 and 49.8% voting against it.