Millions of California Voter Guides Contain Map Error Ahead of High-Stakes Prop 50 Election

In a costly and embarrassing mix-up, 8.5 million California households received a guide showing the wrong congressional district ahead of the Nov. 4 redistricting vote.

In September 2025, California’s Secretary of State acknowledged that the official 202 Voter Information Guide for the upcoming special election contained a labeling error: on the statewide page 11, Congressional District 27 was incorrectly denoted as District 22. 

Detailed maps elsewhere in the guide accurately depicted District 27, but the error affected the prominent overview map used by most readers.

The Secretary of State’s office reports that approximately 8.5 million voter households were mailed guides containing the error. The state plans to issue correction postcards to all affected households—a remedy expected to cost millions of dollars, in addition to the $284 million already earmarked for the Nov. 4 election.

Secretary of State Shirly Weber framed the mishap as a technical mistake, stressing it does not affect the content of ballots, the proposed districts themselves, or the mechanics of voting. “Every eligible Californian can have full confidence that their vote will be counted and their representation is secure,” she said.

Still, opponents seized on the error as evidence of the rushed timeline behind Proposition 50, the constitutional amendment that would temporarily shift redistricting power from California’s citizen commission to the Democratic-controlled legislature.

Former state GOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson blasted the rollout: “glaring mistakes were made … now taxpayers are paying to fix mistakes too.”

If voters approve Prop 50, Republicans could see their representation in California’s congressional delegation shrink significantly — a shift with implications for control of the U.S. House in the 2026 midterms.