Apart from all the propositions, this proposition deals with an ethical decision. Proposition 34 deals with the death penalty.
The first recorded execution in San Diego was in 1778. The death penalty was reinstated in 1978. Since then, 13 people have been executed. Prop 34 may get rid of the death penalty if it gets enough votes.
"This is not going to release any prisoners. It’s simply going to keep people who otherwise might have been sentenced to death to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole," Political Science Professor of University of San Diego Virginia Lewis said.
Nearly 800 in California are waiting on death row.
"The biggest argument against having the death penalty carried out in the state of California is that we could put innocent people to death," Lewis said.
Some in the judicial system favor the death penalty.
"Prosecutors actually like the death penalty. It’s not that they like it because they think it’s applied fairly or that they’re serving justice. It’s that they can use it to plea bargain," Lewis said.
Lewis says it hasn’t having the death penalty hasn’t lowered the crime rate compared to a state that lacks the death penalty.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, since 1978, the death penalty has cost more than $4 billion.
"California maintains the death penalty perhaps because we have a sense that we’re frontier society and there’s still the idea of hang them high and frontier justice is what we like," Lewis said.
A "yes" vote on Prop 34 means the death penalty will be eliminated a "no" vote means the death penalty will remain.
The deadline to register to vote online is midnight.


