Elections: ballot submission deadline.

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

Ballot Submission Deadline for Elections

This law changes the deadline for submitting vote-by-mail ballots to be before polls close on election day, except for military and overseas voters who can still have their ballots postmarked by election day and received within a week after.

What This Bill Does

• Changes when vote-by-mail ballots must be returned to elections officials.
• Requires all vote-by-mail ballots to arrive at the elections office before polls close on election day.
• Allows military or overseas voters to have their ballots postmarked by election day and received within a week after, if they are mailed late.

Who It Names or Affects

• Voters who use vote-by-mail ballots
• Military and overseas voters

Terms To Know

vote-by-mail ballot

A ballot that is sent to a voter by mail instead of voting in person at a polling place.

postmarked

When the post office puts a date stamp on an envelope showing when it was mailed.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify what happens if ballots are received after the new deadline.
• The bill's exact effective date is not provided in the official summary.

Official Summary Text

SB 406, as introduced, Choi.
Elections: ballot submission deadline.
Under existing law, a vote-by-mail ballot is timely cast if it is postmarked or otherwise time-stamped on or before election day and received in the mail no later than 7 days after election day.
This bill would instead require a vote-by-mail ballot to be returned to the applicable elections official no later than the close of the polls on election day, except that the bill would require a vote-by-mail ballot cast by a military or overseas voter to be counted if it is postmarked on or before election day and received no later than 7 days after election day.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF