Voter's pamphlet: electronic candidate statement.

Existing law permits a candidate for a nonpartisan elective office in any local agency, which includes any city, county, city and county, or district, to prepare a written statement, pursuant to specified guidelines, to be included in a voter's pamphlet that is mailed to each voter. Existing law requires each voter's pamphlet to contain a notice in the heading of the first page of that pamphlet in heavy-faced gothic type that, among other things, each candidate's statement in the pamphlet is volunteered by the candidate. Existing law requires an elections official to provide a Spanish translation to those candidates who wish to have one. Existing law authorizes a county or city elections official to establish procedures designed to permit a voter to opt out of receiving his or her voter's pamphlet and other related materials by mail, and instead obtain them electronically via email or by accessing them on the county's or city's Internet Web site, provided specified conditions are met. This bill would authorize the governing body of a local agency to permit a candidate for nonpartisan elective office in the local agency to prepare a written statement for electronic distribution if the elections official who is conducting the election permits electronic distribution of a candidate's statement. This bill would require the statement to be posted on the Internet Web site of the elections official, permit the statement to be included in a voter's pamphlet that is electronically distributed, and prohibit the statement from being included in a voter's pamphlet that is printed and mailed to voters. This bill would require the elections official to provide a Spanish translation to those candidates who wish to have one. This bill would require the notice in the heading of the first page of the voter's pamphlet, in certain circumstances, to specify that additional statements are available on the Internet Web site of the elections official, and would delete the requirement that the notice appear in heavy-faced gothic type.