Voter registration and recall elections.

(1) Under existing law, if a county elections official receives an affidavit of voter registration that does not include all required information, and the elections official is not able to collect the missing information by telephone, but the mailing address of the affiant is legible, the elections official is required to inform the affiant of the reason for rejection of the affidavit and send to the affiant a new voter registration card. This bill would allow the elections official under these circumstances to send to the affiant any other document, as determined by the elections official, on which the affiant may provide the missing information. (2) Existing provisions of the California Constitution and statute authorize the recall of state officers. Each section of a recall petition is required to be filed with the elections official of the county in which it was circulated. Existing law requires the elections official to report to the Secretary of State, 30 days after a recall has been initiated and every 30 days thereafter, the number of signatures submitted on the recall petition sections, the number of valid signatures, and related information. Upon the submission of a section of a recall petition, if fewer than 500 signatures are submitted to the elections official, the elections official is required to count the number of signatures and submit those results to the Secretary of State. If 500 or more signatures are submitted to the elections official, the elections official may verify, using a random sampling technique, either 3% of the signatures submitted or 500 signatures, whichever is less, and report the results of that verification to the Secretary of State. This bill would instead provide that if 500 or more signatures are submitted to the elections official, the elections official may verify, using a random sampling technique, either 3% of the signatures submitted or 500 signatures, whichever is greater. By increasing the duties of local election officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.