Voter registration information: elected officials and candidates.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and digest do not provide specific details on the duration of confidentiality or potential impacts on existing implementation efforts, leaving these points uncertain.

Voter Registration Information: Elected Officials and Candidates

This law makes voter registration information of elected officials, candidates, and their immediate family members who live with them confidential if they request it in writing. It also requires the Secretary of State to notify county elections offices when a candidate qualifies for the ballot.

What This Bill Does

• Makes the home address, phone number, and email of an elected official or candidate confidential if they ask in writing to keep it private.
• Requires candidates to qualify for the ballot before requesting their information be kept secret.
• Allows immediate family members who live with an elected official or candidate to also have their personal details kept private.
• Tells county election officials when someone asks for their voter registration info to stay confidential and updates them if it changes.
• Requires the Secretary of State to notify county elections offices about candidates on the ballot.

Who It Names or Affects

• Elected officials
• Candidates running for office
• Immediate family members living with elected officials or candidates

Terms To Know

Confidential

Information that is kept secret and not shared with others.

Elected official

A person chosen by voters to hold a public office, like a mayor or senator.

Limits and Unknowns

• The law does not specify how long the information must remain confidential.
• It is unclear if there will be changes to current efforts to implement similar laws.
• Local election offices might need additional resources and time to comply with this new rule.

Official Summary Text

AB 2573, as amended, Sharp-Collins.
Voter registration information: elected officials and candidates.
Under existing law, the residence address, telephone number, and email address of a registered voter is confidential, except that under certain circumstances a county elections official must disclose that information to any candidate for federal, state, or local office, to any committee for or against any initiative or referendum measure, and to any person for election, scholarly, journalistic, political, or governmental purposes. Existing law exempts from that disclosure requirement the residence address, telephone number, and email address of a federal, state, or local elected official or candidate, unless the official or candidate opts out or the information is sought for bona fide journalistic or governmental purposes.
This bill would recast the provisions creating that exemption. The bill would permit the information of an elected
official or
candidate’s
official’s
immediate family member who lives at the same residence to be made confidential. For an elected official or candidate’s residence address, telephone number, and email address to be confidential, the elected official or candidate would
have to
be required to
make a written request to the county elections
official and, for a candidate,
official, and a candidate would also need to
qualify to appear on the ballot. The
bill would require the
Secretary of State
would be required
to notify county elections officials when a state or federal candidate qualifies to appear on the ballot, and it would require county elections officials to notify the Secretary of State under certain circumstances if the confidential designation is added to, or removed from, a federal or state elected official or candidate’s voter registration record. The Secretary of State and county elections officials would be required to implement the provisions creating the exemption immediately once the statewide voter registration database and county election management systems have made conforming changes, but the bill states that it does not authorize any reduction in current, ongoing implementation efforts. To the extent the bill imposes additional requirements on local elections officials, the bill imposes a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF