California Code of Regulations
Title 2 - Administration
Division 7 - Secretary of State
Chapter 8.3 - Petition Processing, Signature Verification, Ballot Processing, and Ballot Counting
Article 9 - Processing of Vote-By-Mail and Provisional Ballots
Section 20990 - Vote-By-Mail Ballot Processing and Return Status
Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a) Upon receipt of a voted vote-by-mail ballot, the elections official shall, immediately upon receipt and/or processing the ballot identification envelope, enter the return status of that ballot into the statewide voter registration system pursuant to Section 19091(c) of Article 2.5 of Chapter 1 of Division 7 of Title 2 of the California Code of Regulations.
(b) The received vote-by-mail ballot shall be processed in accordance with Elections Code section 3019.
(c) The signature on the vote-by-mail ballot identification envelope shall be examined pursuant to Section 20960 and Elections Code section 3019. The examination of the signature shall be liberally construed in the favor of the voter.
(d) If the voter did not sign the vote-by-mail ballot identification envelope, or if the elections official has determined that the signature on the vote-by-mail ballot identification envelope does not compare to the signature(s) of the voter in the voter's record, the elections official shall, unless impracticable under the circumstances, on or before the next business day after the signature issue was discovered, provide the voter with the applicable notice to cure the missing or mismatched signature pursuant to Elections Code section 3019(d) or (e).
(e) For the notice described in subdivision (d), the elections official shall:
(f) Upon the final adjudication of the voted vote-by-mail ballot, the elections official shall enter the appropriate reason code for the disposition of the ballot into the statewide voter registration system in accordance with Section 19092 of Article 2.5 of Chapter 1 of Division 7 of Title 2 of the California Code of Regulations.
1. New article 9 (sections 20990-20993) new section filed 9-28-2020 as an emergency; operative 9-28-2020. Emergency expiration extended 60 days (Executive Order N-40-20) plus an additional 60 days (Executive Order N-66-20) (Register 2020, No. 40). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 7-27-2021 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
2. New article 9 (sections 20969-20993) and new section refiled 7-12-2021 as an emergency; operative 7-28-2021 (Register 2021, No. 29). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 10-26-2021 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
3. New article 9 (sections 20969-20993) and section refiled 11-4-2021 as an emergency; operative 11-4-2021 (Register 2021, No. 45). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 2-2-2022 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
4. Certificate of Compliance as to 11-4-2021 order, including amendment of subsections (a), (d) and (f), transmitted to OAL 1-31-2022 and filed 3-15-2022; amendments effective 3-15-2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 11).
Note: Authority cited: Section 3026, Elections Code; and Section 12172.5, Government Code. Reference: 52 U.S.C. 10503; Sections 3010, 3019 and 14201, Elections Code; and Section 12172.5, Government Code.
