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Perhaps the most confusing proposition on this November’s California ballot, is actually not even an initiative – it’s a referendum.

Proposition 40 asks voters to affirm the Senate redistricting process overseen by a Citizen’s Commission that was already approved by voters in past measures and that has already produced new district maps.

What is especially confusing is that the referendum was placed on the ballot by the California Republican Party and its backers to undermine the process put into place by voters, after the resulting district maps were less favorable to GOP officials. Since the measure was intended to overturn an existing law, it had to be written in the form of a referendum on that law, so the GOP, while supporting the referendum’s placement on the ballot, were pushing a NO vote on it in order to undo the commission’s work.

Then, they changed their minds and have now backed off from campaigning against Prop 40 after spending a few million dollars to get it on the ballot. As it now stands, both major parties support Proposition 40 while no one is actively campaigning for or against it.

In a nutshell, if voters pass Prop 40 it will preserve the citizen’s redistricting commission process that they already approved earlier. If Californians vote no on Prop 40, either out of confusion or ignorance, or simply in an act of anger over the length of their ballot, the citizen’s commission will be overturned and revert to the Supreme Court.

GUEST: Brian Leubitz, political consultant and blogger at Calitics.com

Visit www.calitics.com for more information and to read Brian Leubitz’s writings.