(a) The following provisions shall apply to those elections where candidates for one or more of the following offices are voted upon: President, Vice President, United States Senator, and United States Representative.

(b) The packages containing the following ballots and identification envelope shall be kept by the elections official, unopened and unaltered, for 22 months from the date of the election:

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Terms Used In California Elections Code 17301

  • Election: means any election including a primary that is provided for under this code. See California Elections Code 318
  • Elections official: means any of the following:

    California Elections Code 320

  • Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. Source: OCC
  • Polling place: means a location where a voter casts a ballot and includes the following terms, as applicable: poll, polling location, and vote center. See California Elections Code 338.5
  • Precinct: means a geographical area within a county that is made up of voters and is formed pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12200) of Division 12. See California Elections Code 338.6
  • Voter: means any elector who is registered under this code. See California Elections Code 359

(1) Voted polling place ballots.

(2) Paper record copies, as defined by Section 19271, if any, of voted polling place ballots.

(3) Voted vote by mail voter ballots.

(4) Vote by mail voter identification envelopes.

(5) Voted provisional voter ballots.

(6) Provisional ballot voter identification envelopes.

(7) Spoiled ballots.

(8) Canceled ballots.

(9) Unused vote by mail ballots surrendered by the voter pursuant to Section 3015.

(10) Ballot receipts.

(c) If a contest is not commenced within the 22-month period, or if a criminal prosecution involving fraudulent use, marking or falsification of ballots, or forgery of vote by mail voters’ signatures is not commenced within the 22-month period, either of which may involve the vote of the precinct from which voted ballots were received, the elections official shall have the ballots destroyed or recycled. The packages shall otherwise remain unopened until the ballots are destroyed or recycled.

(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 909, Sec. 13. (AB 2562) Effective January 1, 2015.)

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