California Code of Regulations
Title 2 - Administration
Division 7 - Secretary of State
Chapter 1 - Voter Registration
Article 2.5 - Statewide Voter Registration System
Section 19094 - Provisional Ballot Reason Codes

Universal Citation: 2 CA Code of Regs 19094

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024

(a) For all provisional ballots where the ballot return status is "Not Counted," an appropriate reason code shall be assigned by the county elections official.

(b) If a provisional ballot has not had a final adjudication, the county elections official shall assign the ballot return status of "Not Counted" and either a temporary rejection reason code of "In review" or one of the applicable rejection reason codes set forth in subdivision (c) below. Upon the final adjudication of the ballot, "In review" shall be replaced with either a ballot return status of "Counted" or with a rejection reason code for "Not Counted" as provided in subdivision (c) below.

(c) If a county elections official does not count a provisional ballot, then a ballot return status of "Not Counted" shall be assigned along with one of the rejection reason codes listed below:

(1) "Voter already voted." This reason code shall be used when rejecting a provisional ballot that was submitted by a voter when the voter already has an accepted or counted ballot in California for that election, when the voter has previously:
(A) Voted at a location as provided in Elections Code section 338.5;

(B) Returned a VBM ballot in California that was accepted by a county elections official;

(C) Returned a provisional ballot that has been processed and counted in the same or another county; or

(D) Returned a CVR provisional ballot that has been processed and counted in the same or another county.

(2) "No voter signature." This reason code shall be used when the voter did not provide a signature on the provisional ballot envelope.

(3) "Non-matching signature." This reason code shall be used when the voter provided a signature on the provisional ballot envelope that did not compare to the signature on file with the county.

(4) "Ballot missing from envelope." This reason code shall be used when the provisional ballot envelope did not contain a ballot.

(5) "Voter not registered." This reason code shall be used when the voter's record is missing substantive information, which means the registration does not contain the facts necessary to determine eligibility to vote, including name, place of residence and date of birth.

(6) "Voted in wrong county." This reason code shall be used when a voter voted in a county where he/she was not registered.

(7) "Voted wrong ballot." This reason code shall be used when a voter voted a ballot that he/she is not eligible to vote.

(8) "Envelope was incomplete and/or illegible." This reason code shall be used when the substantive information provided on the provisional ballot envelope was missing or unclear.

(9) "No ID provided." This reason code shall be used in a federal election when a first-time registrant, who is also a first-time voter did not provide a California driver license or state identification number or the last four (4) digits of their social security number when they registered to vote, pursuant to Section 19075 of this article, and they did not provide the information required by Section 20107 of Article 7 of Chapter 1 of Division 7 of Title 2 of California Code of Regulations, prior to the final adjudication of the ballot.

(10) "Please contact your county for further information." This reason code shall be used when the county rejection reason is not "In review" or as provided in (c) (1-9) above.

1. New section filed 8-27-2020; operative 8-27-2020 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3). Filing deadline specified in Government Code section 11349.3(a) extended 60 days pursuant to Executive Order N-40-20 and an additional 60 days pursuant to Executive Order N-66-20 (Register 2020, No. 35).
2. Amendment of subsections (b)-(c)(1) and (c)(5), new subsection (c)(9), subsection renumbering and amendment of newly designated subsection (c)(10) filed 10-5-2020 as an emergency; operative 10-5-2020. Emergency expiration extended 60 days (Executive Order N-40-20) plus an additional 60 days (Executive Order N-66-20) (Register 2020, No. 41). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 8-3-2021 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
3. Amendment of subsections (b)-(c)(1), new subsection (c)(9), subsection renumbering and amendment of newly designated subsection (c)(10) refiled 8-5-2021 as an emergency; operative 8-5-2021 (Register 2021, No. 32). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 11-3-2021 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
4. Amendment of subsections (b)-(c)(1), new subsection (c)(9), subsection renumbering and amendment of newly designated subsection (c)(10) refiled 11-15-2021 as an emergency; operative 11-15-2021 (Register 2021, No. 47). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 2-14-2022 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
5. Certificate of Compliance as to 11-15-2021 order, including amendment of subsection (b), transmitted to OAL 12-14-2021 and filed 1-26-2022; amendments operative 1-26-2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 4).

Note: Authority cited: Section 12172.5, Government Code; and Sections 10 and 2168, Elections Code. Reference: 52 U.S.C. Section 21083.

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