The plan to split California into six states may soon be subjected to a vote by state residents, after Silicon Valley billionaire Timothy Draper submitted to election officials the first batch of what he says are 1.3 million signatures supporting his proposal.

Draper is required to collect 807,615 signatures for his proposal to warrant a ballot initiative in November 2016, and the number he submitted to the County of Sacramento Voter Registration and Elections Department is  half-million more than that requirement.

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Elections officials will have to verify the signatures first before declaring that Draper's proposal could be included in the ballot as a referendum for California voters.

Early this year, Draper drafted the proposal with the argument that California is so big that the state government is having a hard time responding equitably to the needs of the state's 38 million people.

If the billionaire's proposal wins the vote, the Golden State could be split into these six states: Jefferson, North California, Central California,Silicon Valley, West California, and South California. 

But even then, under the U.S. Constitution, Congress will still have the final say on the six states.

Splitting the state into six states would mean adding 10 more senators to the U.S. Senate.

Meanwhile, opponents to Draper's measure lodged a complaint Thursday saying fraud attended the circulation of petitions to collect the 1.3 million signatures.

Lawyers for One California asked the California's Secretary of State to investigate "blatant misrepresentations" of the initiative's purpose.

The lawyers cited an instance where a signature campaigner reportedly told a signer that the measure was to oppose the division of  California, instead of breaking up the state.

Other instances mentioned in the attorneys' letter to Secretary Debra Brown said campaigners told signers that the state attorney general supports the initiative.

Making false statements to obtain a voter's signature is considered misdemeanour, and could spoil the initiative's true purpose which is to gather support from freely-deciding voters. 

Tagscalifornia, Tim Draper