Title ELEC — California Elec. Code

(a) A person may be employed to count, tally, and certify the ballots if he or she is not a candidate at the election and if he or she satisfies either of the following requirements: (1) Has the qualifications required for a precinct board member. (2) Is a deputy or employee of e…

The elections official or any deputy authorized by the elections official may excuse or dismiss any person from any counting board and enforce the order.

The elections official or authorized deputy shall segregate the persons employed to count the ballots into counting boards. These counting boards shall be deemed to be precinct boards, and are subject to all laws governing precinct boards where ballots are counted at the polling …

(a) Each container of ballots shall be opened and its contents removed. The ballots shall be checked to ascertain if the ballots are properly grouped and shall be arranged, if necessary, so that all similar ballots from the precinct are together. (b) Any ballot that contains pers…

Any magnetic or electronic storage medium, or copy thereof, used for the ballot tabulation program and any magnetic or electronic storage medium, or copy thereof, containing election results shall be kept in a secure location and shall be retained for 6 months following any local…

In preparing the voted ballots for processing, any ballot that is torn, bent, or otherwise defective shall be corrected so that every vote cast by the voter shall be counted by the automatic tabulating equipment. If necessary, a true duplicate copy of the defective ballot shall b…

If voting at all precincts within a county is not conducted using the same voting system, the result as to the precincts not subject to this article shall be determined in accordance with other provisions of this code and the result of the vote at precincts subject to this articl…

In case of an emergency in which it becomes impossible to transport the ballots from the precinct to a central counting place, the elections official may direct that the ballots be counted at the precinct. In those cases, counting shall be conducted substantially in accordance wi…

This article applies to all elections in which votes are counted by means of a voting machine at a polling place or vote center.

(a) As soon as the polls are closed on election day, the precinct board, in the presence of the watchers and all others lawfully present, shall immediately lock the voting machine against voting and do all of the following: (1) Count the votes cast on voting machines and report t…

Upon receipt of the result of votes cast from the precinct boards, the elections official shall do either of the following: (a) Compile and make available to the public the received results as to the offices and measures. (b) Compare the received results to the results provided t…

(a) The elections official of the jurisdiction shall establish one or more election return centers for the purpose of facilitating the compilation of election returns and expediting their announcement to the public. (b) In establishing a return center, the elections official may …

The elections official may establish one or more centers to count ballots from designated precincts and transmit the results via voice telephone connection or facsimile transmission. The count shall be conducted in all other respects in accordance with the central counting provis…

This article applies to all elections in which ballots are counted by hand.

(a) An elections official shall not conduct a manual vote count pursuant to this article or Article 6 (commencing with Section 15290) in any election unless that manual count is conducted pursuant to a plan approved by the Secretary of State. A manual count plan shall be consiste…

The Secretary of State shall adopt regulations regarding manual vote counts.

Notwithstanding Section 15270.1 or subdivision (a) of Section 19207.5, an elections official may conduct a manual vote count in the event of a natural disaster or other state of emergency in which use of a certified voting system is not feasible.

As soon as the polls are finally closed, the precinct board shall commence to count the votes by taking the ballots cast, unopened, out of the box and counting them to ascertain whether the number of ballots corresponds with the number of signatures on the roster. The precinct bo…

The count shall be public and shall be continued without adjournment until completed and the result is declared. During the reading and tallying, the ballot read and the tally sheet kept shall be within the clear view of watchers.

Unless otherwise provided in this code, the precinct board members may not constitute themselves into separate squads in an attempt to conduct more than one count of the ballots at the same time.

The members of the precinct board may relieve each other in the duties of counting ballots.

Those ballots not rejected shall be placed in one pile, and the board shall proceed to count by tallying the vote for one or more offices or measures at a time.

The precinct board members shall ascertain the number of votes cast for each person and for and against each measure in the following manner: One precinct board member shall read from the ballots. As the ballots are read, at least one other precinct board member shall keep watch …

(a) Two of the precinct board members shall each keep a tally sheet in a form prescribed by the elections official. Each tally sheet shall contain all of the following: (1) The name of each candidate being voted for and the specific office for which each candidate is being voted.…

On completion of the canvass of the returns for each election, the elections official shall compare the vote by mail voters’ list with the roster for each precinct to determine if any voter cast more than one ballot at that election.

No precinct board member may make any tally of votes in any other manner than is provided in this article, nor in any place other than on the tally sheets provided for that purpose.

The ballots, as soon as all of the names and measures marked on them as voted for are read and tallied, shall not thereafter be examined by any person, but, as soon as all are counted, shall be carefully sealed in a strong envelope. The signatures of each member of the precinct b…

The precinct board shall complete, sign, and return to the elections official all furnished forms requiring its signatures. When votes are counted at the precinct, all members of the precinct board, upon the completion of their duties, shall sign the following certificate of perf…

The precinct board shall sign and post conspicuously on the outside of the polling place a copy of the result of the votes cast. The copy shall remain posted for at least 48 hours after the official time fixed for the closing of the polls. To protect a person’s right to cast a se…

Ballots that are to be counted manually in a central place shall be transported as provided in Sections 15201 and 15202. Each counting board shall proceed to count and tally the ballots by precincts, separately, under the direction of the elections official or authorized deputies…

The Secretary of State shall not approve any voting system, or part of a voting system, unless it fulfills the requirements of this code and the regulations of the Secretary of State. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

(a) (1) The Secretary of State may grant conditional approval to a voting system or part of a voting system under either of the following circumstances: (A) A voting system or part of a voting system was decertified as a result of a review by the Secretary of State pursuant to Se…

(a) Except as authorized by Section 19209, a voting system, in whole or in part, shall not be used unless it has been certified or conditionally approved by the Secretary of State prior to any election at which it is to be used. (b) A voting system that has been tested and approv…

The Secretary of State shall not certify or conditionally approve a voting system or a part of a voting system that uses paper ballots unless the paper used for the ballots is of sufficient quality that it maintains its integrity and readability throughout the retention period sp…

The Secretary of State shall not certify or conditionally approve any voting system that includes features that permit a voter to produce, and leave the polling place with, a copy or facsimile of the ballot cast by the voter at that polling place.

(a) The Secretary of State shall not certify or conditionally approve a voting system that cannot facilitate the conduct of a ballot level comparison risk-limiting audit. (b) (1) For purposes of this subdivision, a voting system that is “noncompliant” is a voting system that cann…

A voting system shall comply with all of the following: (a) No part of the voting system shall be connected to the internet at any time. (b) No part of the voting system shall electronically receive or transmit election data through an exterior communication network, including th…

Except as authorized by Section 19209, both of the following apply: (a) If more than one voting system is used to count ballots, the names of candidates shall, insofar as possible, be placed on the primary voting system. (b) If more than one voting system or a combination of a vo…

The governing board may adopt for use at elections any kind of voting system, any combination of voting systems, or any combination of a voting system and paper ballots, provided that the voting system or systems involved have been certified or conditionally approved by the Secre…

(a) An elections official or the governing body of any jurisdiction that administers elections shall use a voting machine, as defined in Section 361, or a voting system, as defined in Section 362, that has been certified pursuant to this division, to do all of the following: (1) …

The governing board may provide for the payment of the cost of the voting system equipment in any manner and by any method as it deems best for local interests, and also may for that purpose issue bonds, certificates of indebtedness, or other obligations that shall be a charge on…

(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) “Commercial off-the-shelf” means mass-produced, readily available hardware devices, including card readers, printers, or personal computers, and their firmware or software products, including o…

(a) A person, corporation, or public agency owning or having an interest in the sale or acquisition of a voting system or a part of a voting system may apply to the Secretary of State for certification that includes testing and examination of the applicant’s system by a state-app…

(a) Prior to publishing his or her decision to certify, conditionally approve, or withhold certification of a voting system or part of a voting system, the Secretary of State shall provide for a 30-day public review period and conduct a public hearing to give persons interested a…

(a) (1) No later than 10 business days after the Secretary of State certifies or conditionally approves the use of a new or updated voting system, the vendor or county seeking certification or approval of the voting system shall cause an exact copy of the approved source code for…

Within 60 days after the completion of the examination of a voting system, the Secretary of State shall make publicly available a report stating whether the voting system has been certified or conditionally approved, or whether certification has been withheld. The report shall al…

Within 10 days after issuing and filing a certification decision and associated testing reports, the Secretary of State shall make available to the public a full and complete copy of the certification report and all associated documentation, except that portions of the report or …

If a voting system or a part of a voting system has been certified or conditionally approved by the Secretary of State, the vendor or, in cases where the system is publicly owned, the jurisdiction shall notify the Secretary of State and all local elections officials who use the s…

If a voting system or a part of a voting system has been certified or conditionally approved by the Secretary of State, it shall not be changed or modified until the Secretary of State has been notified in writing and has determined that the change or modification does not impair…

The Secretary of State may seek injunctive and administrative relief if a voting system or a part of a voting system has been compromised by the addition or deletion of hardware, software, or firmware without prior approval or is defective due to a known hardware, software, or fi…