Presidential elections: qualifications for office.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and digest do not provide specific details about the exact qualifications for office that candidates must meet, leaving this as an open question.

Presidential Elections: Candidate Qualifications

The bill requires presidential and vice-presidential candidates to swear under oath that they meet the qualifications for office, allows investigations into their eligibility if there's reasonable suspicion, and sets up a process for challenges in court.

What This Bill Does

• Requires candidates for President or Vice President to affirm, under oath, that they will fully meet the qualifications of the office.
• Allows the Secretary of State to investigate a candidate’s qualifications if there is reasonable suspicion based on articulable fact.
• Enables electors and disqualified candidates to challenge the qualifications in court within 5 days after the certified list of candidates is issued.
• Requires courts to hold hearings no more than 10 days after the certification date and issue decisions within 48 hours.

Who It Names or Affects

• Candidates for President or Vice President
• The Secretary of State
• Electors who can challenge qualifications in court

Terms To Know

Perjury

A crime where someone lies under oath.

Elector

An individual authorized to vote or cast a ballot, especially in an election.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify the exact qualifications for office that candidates must meet.
• It is unclear how often investigations into candidate qualifications will be initiated by the Secretary of State.

Official Summary Text

SB 46, as amended, Umberg.
Evidence: admissibility: writings.
Presidential elections: qualifications for office.
Existing law requires the Secretary of State to place the name of a candidate upon a political party’s presidential primary ballot when the Secretary of State has determined that the candidate is generally advocated for or recognized throughout the United States or California as actively seeking the nomination of that party for President. Each qualified political party is required to notify the Secretary of State of the names of the party’s nominees for President and Vice President on or before the 75th day before a presidential general election, and the Secretary of State is required to place the names of those nominees upon the ballot for the election.
This bill would prohibit the Secretary of State from placing the name of any candidate for the office of
President or Vice President upon the ballot, if the candidate does not affirm, under oath, that the candidate will fully meet the qualifications of the office. Because a person who willfully makes a false statement under oath is guilty of the crime of perjury, this bill expands the scope of that crime and thereby creates a state-mandated local program. If the Secretary of State has reasonable suspicion based on articulable fact that a candidate for President or Vice President does not meet the qualifications for office, the bill would authorize the Secretary of State to investigate the candidate’s qualifications and request proof of the candidate’s constitutional eligibility to hold the office.
The bill would authorize an elector to challenge the qualifications of a candidate for President or Vice President by filing a petition in the Superior Court of the County of Sacramento, and it would authorize a candidate who is not certified by the Secretary of State for
failure to meet the qualifications of office to challenge the Secretary of State’s determination by filing a petition in the same court. The bill would require the petition to be filed no later than 5 days after the date on which the Secretary of State issues the certified list of candidates for the election. The bill would require the court to hold a hearing no more than 10 days after the Secretary of State issues the certified list of candidates and to issue a decision no more than 48 hours after the hearing.
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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires a writing to be authenticated before it can be received in evidence. Under existing law a seal is presumed to be genuine and its use authorized if it purports to be the seal of certain entities including, among others, the United States or a department, agency, or public employee of the United States, or a notary public in any state of the United States.
This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this provision.

Current Bill Text

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