Fresno minister: Here’s why I am supporting Prop. 50 in good conscience | Opinion

The ballot drop-box on the church campus where I serve as minister is one of only two that are located outside places of worship in Fresno. When I see it, I think of something I recently said to the congregation: Voting is a spiritual act, an embodiment of our Unitarian Universalist belief that every person has inherent worthiness and dignity. This means everyone should have a voice.

That philosophy has led me to support California’s Proposition 50, the ballot measure that would create a plan to temporarily redraw our congressional maps in response to expected changes to maps in states like Texas. The maps shape how communities are grouped into voting districts that choose who represents them in Congress to decide public policy, ranging from passing laws to the federal budget.

Prop. 50’s redistricting plan applies only to elections held from 2026 through 2030.

I didn’t come to this decision lightly. I struggled at first with the morality of California doing the same thing as Texas legislators who are suddenly changing their congressional maps. But I realized that Prop. 50 is not about taking an eye for an eye — it’s about giving back a voice for a voice. It will restore the voices of all voters, including those who will not be represented in other states’ redistricting plans, and level the playing field of U.S. democracy.

This is a time to look beyond California to see voters who are being disenfranchised in other parts of the country by these unfair maps. Already, President Donald Trump and his allies have hurt families across the nation by deeply cutting access to health care for those with limited resources. Now, they’re trying to rig the 2026 election by excluding communities that are hit the hardest by funding cuts — the same communities who have often been marginalized and silenced.

We can’t watch this happen without trying to counter it. A commitment to social justice means fighting to give the voice of the people to every person voting on issues ranging from medical costs to a fair minimum wage.

Already, so many public policies have chipped away at the right of every voter to be heard, from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling that allows corporations and other wealthy groups to spend unlimited money on elections to recent efforts to dismantle the 60-year-old Voting Rights Act.

Putting California’s redistricting plan on the ballot this November — well before the 2026 mid-term election — also means the voters can decide. It’s not a decision to redraw districts that’s made only by state legislators (as is the case in some other states). Prop. 50 is an emergency measure to protect the nation’s democracy by ensuring that communities of voters who are being muzzled in some states are still heard in California.

I can also support Prop. 50 in good conscience because the measure says California will return to the regular process, led by the state’s citizen redistricting commission, after the 2030 census. The measure affirms that it is our state policy to support the use of fair, nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide.

Every day, both in this community and in my congregation, I see people who are struggling and working hard to provide for themselves and their families even as they feel they are being forgotten. It is our moral obligation to make sure that all voices are valued across the country. The right to vote and be heard is sacred.

That’s what I’m reminded of daily when I look at the ballot drop-box outside my church. That’s why I will vote yes on Prop. 50.

Rev. Tim Kutzmark is minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno.