Title ELEC — California Elec. Code

In the event that the Attorney General is a proponent of a proposed measure, the circulating title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed measure, including an estimate or opinion on the financial impact of the measure, shall be prepared by the Legislative Co…

(a) Upon receipt of the text of a proposed initiative measure, and after the public review period provided for in Section 9002, the Attorney General shall prepare a circulating title and summary of the chief purposes and points of the proposed measure. The circulating title and s…

(a) The Attorney General, in preparing a circulating title and summary for a proposed initiative measure, shall, in boldface print, include in the circulating title and summary either the estimate of the amount of any increase or decrease in revenues or costs to the state or loca…

(a) Upon receipt of the text of a proposed referendum, the Attorney General shall prepare a circulating title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed statute at issue. The circulating title and summary shall not exceed a total of 100 words. No fiscal analysis …

Immediately upon the preparation of the circulating title and summary of a proposed initiative or referendum measure, the Attorney General shall forthwith transmit copies of the text of the measure and the circulating title and summary to the Senate and the Assembly. The appropri…

Every proposed initiative measure, prior to circulation, shall have placed across the top of the petition in 11-point or larger roman type, all of the following: (a) The Attorney General’s unique numeric identifier placed before the circulating title and summary upon each page wh…

The heading of an initiative petition shall be in substantially the following form: Initiative Measure to Be Submitted Directly to the Voters The Attorney General of California has prepared the following circulating title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the propose…

Across the top of each page of a referendum petition, there shall be printed in 12-point boldface type the following: “Referendum Against an Act Passed by the Legislature.” (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

Across the top of each page after the first page of every referendum petition or section of a referendum petition, which is prepared and circulated, there shall be printed in 18-point gothic type a short title, in 20 words or less, showing the nature of the petition and the subje…

Any petition for a proposed initiative measure or referendum may be presented in sections, but each section shall contain a full and correct copy of the circulating title and summary and text of the proposed measure. The text of the proposed measure shall be printed in type not s…

A space at least one inch wide shall be left blank across the top of each page of every initiative and referendum petition and after the name of each voter who has signed the petition for the use of the county elections official in verifying the petition.

(a) A petition for a proposed initiative or referendum measure shall not be circulated for signatures prior to the official summary date. (b) Subject to subdivision (d), a petition with signatures for a proposed initiative measure shall be filed with the county elections official…

Officers required by law to receive or file in their offices any initiative or referendum petition shall not receive or file any initiative or referendum petition not in conformity with this article.

(a) Notwithstanding Section 324, for purposes of subdivision (c) of Section 8 of, and subdivision (c) of Section 9 of, Article II of the California Constitution, “general election” means only the election held throughout the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in No…

If, for any reason, any initiative or referendum measure proposed by petition as provided by this article is not submitted to the voters at the next succeeding statewide election, that failure shall not prevent its submission at a succeeding statewide election.

The Secretary of State shall prepare and provide to any person, upon request, a pamphlet describing the procedures and requirements for preparing and circulating a statewide initiative measure and for filing sections of the petition, and describing the procedure used in determini…

(a) The petition sections shall be designed so that each signer shall personally affix all of the following: (1) The signer’s signature. (2) The signer’s printed name. (3) The signer’s residence address, giving street and number, or if no street or number exists, adequate designa…

(a) A person who meets the requirements of Section 102 may circulate a statewide initiative or referendum petition anywhere within the state. Each section of the petition shall bear the name of a county or city and county, and only qualified registered voters of that county or ci…

(a) Each section shall have attached thereto the declaration of the person soliciting the signatures setting forth the information required by Section 104. (b) The circulator shall certify to the content of the declaration as to its truth and correctness, under penalty of perjury…

(a) Each section of the petition shall be filed with the elections official of the county or city and county for which it was circulated, but all sections circulated in any county or city and county shall be filed at the same time. Once filed, no petition section shall be amended…

(a) If the statistical sampling shows that the number of valid signatures is within 95 to 110 percent of the number of signatures of qualified voters needed to declare the petition sufficient, the Secretary of State shall order the examination and verification of the signatures f…

The right to file the petition shall be reserved to its proponents, and any section thereof presented for filing by any person or persons other than the proponents of a measure or by persons duly authorized in writing by one or more of the proponents shall be disregarded by the e…

(a) When the Secretary of State has received from one or more elections officials or registrars a petition, certified to have been signed by the requisite number of qualified voters, the Secretary of State shall forthwith notify the proponents and immediately transmit to the elec…

(a) The proponents of a proposed initiative measure shall submit a certification, signed under penalty of perjury, to the Secretary of State immediately upon the collection of 25 percent of the number of signatures needed to qualify the initiative measure for the ballot. (b) Upon…

An initiative measure may be proposed by presenting to the Secretary of State a petition that sets forth the text of the proposed statute or amendment to the Constitution and is certified to have been signed by registered voters equal in number to 5 percent in the case of a statu…

(a) Every constitutional amendment, bond measure, or other legislative measure submitted to the people by the Legislature shall appear on the ballot of the first statewide election occurring at least 131 days after the adoption of the proposal by the Legislature. (b) Notwithstand…

Whenever the Legislature submits any measure to the voters of the state, the author of the measure and no more than two persons appointed by the author may draft an argument for the adoption of the measure, or the author of the measure may appoint no more than three persons to dr…

If a measure submitted to the voters by the Legislature was not adopted unanimously, one Member of the Senate who voted against it shall be appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate and one Member of the Assembly who voted against it shall be appointed by the Speaker o…

Arguments prepared by legislators and their appointees shall be submitted to the Secretary of State no later than a date to be designated by the Secretary of State. The arguments may not be amended or changed after submission. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

If an argument for or an argument against a measure submitted to the voters by the Legislature has not been filed by a Member of the Legislature, any voter may request the Secretary of State’s permission to prepare and file an argument for either side, on which no argument has be…

(a) After the Secretary of State determines that a measure will appear on the ballot at the next statewide election, the Secretary of State shall promptly transmit a copy of the measure to the Attorney General. The Attorney General shall provide and return to the Secretary of Sta…

(a) (1) The ballot title and summary may differ from the legislative, circulating, or other title and summary of the measure and shall not exceed 100 words, not including the fiscal impact statement. (2) The ballot title and summary shall include a summary of the Legislative Anal…

Each measure shall be designated on the ballot by the ballot label certified by the Secretary of State.

(a) Whenever a city, county, or city and county is required by Section 203 (52 U.S.C. Sec. 10503) or Section 4(f)(4) (52 U.S.C. Sec. 10303(f)(4)) of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 to provide a translation of ballot materials in a language other than English, the Secretary …

In case either the argument for or the argument against any measure placed on the ballot is not prepared and filed, the Secretary of State shall, by a general press release, request voters to submit arguments. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

The press release shall be mailed at least 120 days prior to the date of the election at which a measure is to be voted upon.

The press release shall consist of an announcement containing: (a) A summary of the essential nature or purpose of the measure for or against which no argument has been prepared or filed. (b) A statement that the affirmative or negative arguments, or both, have not been filed. (c…

The summary of a measure given in the press release shall be the official circulating title and summary that has been prepared by the Attorney General. The Legislative Counsel Bureau shall prepare the summary on all other measures.

Any voter or group of voters may, at any time within the time limit, prepare and file with the Secretary of State an argument for or against any measure as to which arguments have not been prepared or filed. This argument shall not exceed 500 words in length. (Enacted by Stats. 1…

A ballot argument shall not be accepted under this article unless accompanied by all of the following: (a) The name, business or home address, and telephone number of each person submitting the argument. (b) If the argument is submitted on behalf of an organization, the name, bus…

(a) If more than one argument for, or more than one argument against, a measure is filed within the time prescribed, the Secretary of State shall select one of the arguments for printing in the state voter information guide. In selecting the argument the Secretary of State shall …

(a) No more than three signatures shall appear with an argument printed in the state voter information guide. In case an argument is signed by more than three persons the signatures of the first three shall be printed. (b) The Secretary of State shall provide, upon request, the n…

When the Secretary of State has received the arguments that will be printed in the state voter information guide, the Secretary of State, within five days of receipt of the arguments, shall send copies of the arguments in favor of the proposition to the authors of the arguments a…

The provisions of Sections 9084 to 9093, inclusive, are a restatement of, and shall be construed in conformity with, Sections 88001 to 88007, inclusive, of the Government Code. (Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

There shall be a state voter information guide, that the Secretary of State shall prepare.

The Secretary of State shall cause to be printed as many state voter information guides as needed to comply with this code. The state voter information guides shall be printed in the Office of State Printing unless the Director of General Services determines that the printing of …

The Secretary of State shall cause to be produced an audio recorded version of the state voter information guide. This audio recorded version shall be made available in quantities to be determined by the Secretary of State and shall contain an impartial summary, arguments for and…

(a) The Secretary of State shall make available the complete state voter information guide over the Internet. The online version of the state voter information guide shall contain all of the following: (1) For each candidate listed in the guide, a means to access campaign contrib…

If the ballot contains a question as to the confirmation of a justice of the Supreme Court or a court of appeal, the Secretary of State shall include in the state voter information guide a written explanation of the electoral procedure for justices of the Supreme Court and the co…

(a) If a candidate for nomination or election to a partisan office will appear on the ballot, the Secretary of State shall include in the state voter information guide a written explanation of the election procedure for such offices. The explanation shall read substantially simil…