Title ELEC — California Elec. Code

Every person who threatens to commit an assault or battery on a person circulating a referendum, initiative, or recall petition or on a relative of a person circulating a referendum, initiative, or recall petition or to inflict damage on the property of the circulator or the rela…

Every person who forcibly or by stealth takes from the possession of a circulator any initiative, referendum, or recall petition on which one or more persons have affixed their signatures is guilty of a misdemeanor. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

Any person working for the proponent or proponents of an initiative or referendum measure or recall petition who solicits signatures to qualify the measure or petition and accepts any payment therefor and who fails to surrender the measure or petition to the proponents thereof fo…

No one shall knowingly or willfully permit the list of signatures on an initiative, referendum, or recall petition to be used for any purpose other than qualification of the initiative or referendum measure or recall question for the ballot, except as provided in Article 2 (comme…

(a) Every person is punishable by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for 16 months or two or three years, or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and impris…

Every public official or employee is punishable by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for 16 months or two or three years, or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both tha…

Every person is guilty of a misdemeanor who, either as principal or agent, files in the office of the Secretary of State, county elections official, or in the office of any other officer designated by law to receive the filing, a petition or any section of a petition relating to …

Any petition, or any section of a petition, filed by any person other than the proponents of an initiative or referendum measure and with an intention of defeating an expression of the public will is null and void. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

Every person who is entrusted with money or things of value for the purpose of promoting or defeating any initiative, referendum, or recall petition or any measure that has qualified for the ballot is a trustee of the money or things of value. If a person wrongfully appropriates …

This article applies to a general law city that elects members of the city’s legislative body by districts or from districts, as those terms are defined in Section 34871 of the Government Code.

Following a city’s decision to elect its council using district-based elections, or following each federal decennial census for a city whose council is already elected using district-based elections, the council shall, by ordinance or resolution, adopt boundaries for all of the c…

(a) If the boundaries of a city expand by the addition of new territory, including through annexation of unincorporated territory or consolidation with another city, the council shall add that new territory to the nearest existing council district without changing the boundaries …

(a) After redistricting or districting, a council shall not adopt new council district boundaries until after the next federal decennial census, except under the following circumstances: (1) A court orders the council to redistrict. (2) The council is settling a legal claim that …

(a) The term of office of any council member who has been elected and whose term of office has not expired shall not be affected by any change in the boundaries of the district from which the council member was elected and that member shall continue to represent the constituents …

This article applies to a charter city that elects members of the city’s legislative body by districts or from districts, as those terms are defined in Section 34871 of the Government Code.

Following a city’s decision to elect its council using district-based elections, or following each federal decennial census for a city whose council is already elected using district-based elections, the council shall, by ordinance or resolution, adopt boundaries for all of the c…

(a) If the boundaries of a city expand by the addition of new territory, including through annexation of unincorporated territory or consolidation with another city, the council shall add that new territory to the nearest existing council district without changing the boundaries …

(a) After redistricting or districting, a council shall not adopt new council district boundaries until after the next federal decennial census, except under the following circumstances: (1) A court orders the council to redistrict. (2) The council is settling a legal claim that …

(a) The term of office of any council member who has been elected and whose term of office has not expired shall not be affected by any change in the boundaries of the district from which the council member was elected and that member shall continue to represent the constituents …

If a council assigns the responsibility to recommend or to adopt new district boundaries to a hybrid or independent redistricting commission as defined in Section 23000, the charter city remains subject to the redistricting deadlines, requirements, and restrictions that apply to …

The person declared elected by the superior court is entitled to a certificate of election. If a certificate has not already been issued to him or her, the elections official shall immediately make out and deliver to that person a certificate of election signed by him or her.

If the elections official has issued any certificate for the same office to any other person than the one declared elected by the court, or if the court finds a tie vote in a general election contest brought under this division, the certificate is annulled by the judgment. (Enact…

Whenever an election is annulled or set aside by the judgment of the superior court, and no appeal has been taken within 10 days thereafter, the commission, if any has issued, is void and the office vacant. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

If in any election contest it appears that another person than the defendant has the highest number of legal votes, the court shall declare that person elected. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

After the court has heard the proofs and allegations of the parties, it shall file its findings of fact and conclusions of law and immediately pronounce judgment either confirming the nomination or setting it aside and decreeing contestant nominated. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. …

When the recount has been completed in the manner required by Article 4 (commencing with Section 16460) of Chapter 5, and Article 3 (commencing with Section 16640) of Chapter 7, all the judges who took part, if more than one, shall assemble and make the decision of the court. If …

A certified copy of the judgment shall be served upon the elections official and may be enforced summarily in the same manner as provided in Section 13314.

If the contest proceeds in more than one county, and the nominee is to be certified by the Secretary of State from the compilation of election returns in his or her office, the judgment in each county in which there has been a contest shall show what, if any, changes in the retur…

Except as provided in this chapter, this chapter applies to all elections. The recount of votes cast for candidates for presidential electors shall be governed by this chapter. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

(a) The Secretary of State, within the Secretary of State’s existing budget, shall adopt regulations no later than January 1, 2008, for each voting system approved for use in the state and specify the procedures for recounting ballots, including vote by mail and provisional ballo…

If no election contest is pending wherein a recount of the ballots in a precinct has been or will be ordered, the elections official may order that the ballots voted in the precinct be publicly recounted if both of the following apply: (a) The elections official has reasonable ca…

(a) Following completion of the official canvass, any voter may, within five calendar days thereafter but not later than 5 p.m. on the fifth day, file with the elections official responsible for conducting an election in the county wherein the recount is sought a written request …

(a) Following completion of the official canvass any voter may, within five calendar days beginning on the 31st day after a statewide election, file with the Secretary of State a written request for a recount of the votes cast for candidates for any statewide office or for or aga…

If more than one voter requests a recount of the same office or measure pursuant to Section 15620 or 15621, and at least one request is for a manual recount, the county elections official of a county subject to multiple requests as described in this section shall conduct only one…

The request may specify the order in which votes are recounted by precinct or by the batch in which the ballots were scanned. In the case of a recount that includes more than one county, the request may specify the order that counties will conduct the recount within the jurisdict…

Any time during the conduct of a recount and for 24 hours thereafter, any other voter may request the recount of any precincts in an election for the same office, slate of presidential electors, or measure not recounted as a result of the original request. (Enacted by Stats. 1994…

The voter or the campaign committee, as defined in Section 82013 of the Government Code, represented by the voter filing the recount request, or the voter’s designee, shall, before the recount is commenced and at the beginning of each day following, deposit with the elections off…

(a) The recount shall be conducted under the supervision of the elections official. The elections official shall convene special recount boards consisting of four individuals appointed by and at the discretion of the elections official. The requester shall reimburse the county fo…

(a) The recount shall be commenced not more than seven business days following the receipt by the elections official of the request or order for the recount under Section 15620, 15621, or 15645 and shall be continued daily, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excepted, for not less …

(a) If the votes subject to recount were cast or tabulated by a voting system, the voter requesting the recount shall, for each set of ballots cast or tabulated by a type of voting system, select whether the recount shall be conducted manually, or by means of the voting system us…

Not less than one day prior to commencement of the recount, the elections official shall post a notice as to the date and place of the recount and shall notify the following persons of it in person, by email, or by any federally regulated overnight mail service: (a) All candidate…

The recount shall be conducted publicly. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

(a) All ballots, whether voted or not, and any other relevant materials, as specified in regulations adopted by the Secretary of State, may be examined as part of any recount if the voter filing the declaration requesting the recount so requests in writing, specifying the relevan…

On recount, ballots may be challenged for incompleteness, ambiguity, or other defects, in accordance with the following procedure: (a) The person challenging the ballot shall state the reason for the challenge. (b) The official counting the ballot shall count it as the official b…

In lieu of the returns as reported in the official canvass, upon completion of the recount showing that a different candidate was nominated or elected, that a different presidential slate of electors received a plurality of the votes, or that a measure was defeated instead of app…

Not more than one day after the conclusion of the recount, the elections official shall post a copy of the results of any recount conducted pursuant to this chapter conspicuously in the office of the elections official or on the elections official’s internet website for a period …

This chapter does not: (a) Authorize the opening or recounting of ballots for any precinct except for the purposes specified in this chapter. (b) Limit other provisions of law regarding an election contest or recount. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

(a) When requested by the board of supervisors or the grand jury, the district attorney may petition the superior court for an order directing a public recount to be made of ballots tabulated by a voting system in any precincts in the county that it designates for any election oc…

Section 15001 shall apply unless a court orders the program held pending the conclusion of litigation challenging the outcome of an election. If court action or an official recount is initiated while the program is on deposit, the Secretary of State shall make the program availab…

Any tape, diskette, cartridge, or other magnetic or electronic storage medium used in the programming of vote totals shall be kept in a secure location and, if there is a recanvass of votes, the officer entrusted with the magnetic storage medium shall submit his or her affidavit …