Elections.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on when the law will take effect.

Election Protection Rules

This law sets new rules for protecting voter information, ballot processing observation, and voting system security from interference.

What This Bill Does

• It prohibits peace officers from interfering with the administration of elections.
• It restricts access to voter lists by requiring a court order unless it's for investigating specific types of voting fraud.
• It prevents vote-by-mail observers from challenging signatures on ballots that have been verified by voters.
• It allows state officials to object to unauthorized security personnel at polling places, making such actions illegal.
• It makes it illegal to take packages containing ballots out of the hands of election workers.

Who It Names or Affects

• Elections officials
• Voters who use vote-by-mail
• Peace officers and law enforcement agencies

Terms To Know

State-mandated local program

A state law that requires local governments to do something, which might cost them money.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify when it will start.
• It may require local governments to spend more money, but the details are unclear.

Official Summary Text

SB 73, Cervantes.
Elections.
(1) Existing state and federal law provides for the enforcement of laws related to elections.
This bill would prohibit a peace officer from interfering with the administration of an election, as specified. This bill would authorize certain persons to enforce those prohibitions by filing a civil action, as specified. This bill would also prohibit any individual from permitting an agent of a law enforcement agency, as specified, to access, disrupt, modify, or take
possession of rosters, combined rosters, or voter lists unless authorized by a court order or to investigate certain types of voting fraud. The bill would additionally require the Attorney General to provide guidance and information regarding how to respond to requests by law enforcement, as defined, to access areas where ballots are present.
(2) Existing law requires an elections official, upon receiving a vote by mail ballot, to compare the signature on the identification envelope with the voter’s prior signatures, and it also provides a mechanism by which a voter can verify their signature and cure this defect. Existing law provides that the processing of vote by mail ballots is open to the public and permits specified persons and organizations to observe this processing.
This bill would prohibit a vote by mail observer from challenging a signature on a vote by mail ballot that has been verified by
the voter.
(3) Under existing law, it is a crime for a person in possession of a firearm, a uniformed peace officer, private guard, or security personnel, or any person wearing the uniform of a peace officer, guard, or security personnel, to be stationed in the immediate vicinity of, or posted at, a polling place without authorization from the appropriate elections official. It is also a crime for a person to hire or arrange for such a person to be stationed in the immediate vicinity of, or posted at, a polling place without authorization from the elections official.
This bill would authorize the Secretary of State or Attorney General to object to authorization provided by the appropriate elections official, in which case the person stationed or posted at the polling place, or the person who hired or arranged for such a person to be stationed or posted at the polling place, is guilty of a crime. By
expanding the scope of these crimes, the bill would create a state-mandated local program.
(4) Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and any local elections official in the county in which the act occurs, to bring a civil action against an individual, business, or other legal entity that commits any specified act of tampering with a voting system or voting equipment before, during, or after an election.
This bill would additionally authorize the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and the appropriate local elections official to bring a civil action against a person, business, or entity that takes a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official.
(5) Existing law makes it a crime for an individual to undertake a number of enumerated actions that would result in interference with an
election, including displaying a container for the purpose of collecting ballots with the intent to deceive a voter into casting a ballot in an unofficial ballot box.
This bill would also make it a crime to take a package containing voted ballots out of the custody of an elections official. By expanding the scope of this crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(6) Existing law requires the elections official of any county or city using a voting system to inspect the machines or devices at least once every 2 years.
This bill would prohibit an individual from permitting an agent of a law enforcement agency, as defined, to access, disrupt, modify, or take possession of certified voting technology unless authorized by a court order. To the extent this bill would establish new procedures for the conduct of elections, it would create a
state-mandated local program.
(7) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Current Bill Text

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