Elections: precinct reports.

Existing law requires an elections official to transmit the semifinal official results to the Secretary of State following commencement of the semifinal official canvass. After the official canvass, existing law requires an elections official to prepare a certified statement of the results of the election and submit it to the governing body. The elections official must also post the certified statement of the results on his or her Internet Web site in a downloadable spreadsheet format that may include a comma-separated values file or a tab-separated values file and that is compatible with a spreadsheet software application that is widely used at the time of the posting. Existing law requires the certified statement of the election results to be posted and maintained on the elections official's Internet Web site for a period of at least 10 years following the election. This bill would require a county with the technical capacity to do so to post the information contained in the statement of the results, as well as other available election data, on its Internet Web site beginning on election night and continuing as specified until the election results are certified. This bill would require the county to post this information in downloadable spreadsheet and Election Markup Language (EML) formats, as specified. This bill would also decrease to 22 months the amount of time the certified statement of election results must be posted and maintained on the elections official's Internet Web site. This bill would also require a county elections official to propose a modification of its voting system to the Secretary of State by December 31, 2017, for approval if modification of that system would enable the county to post required information on its Internet Web site immediately following the election, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to certify or conditionally approve a voting system prior to any election at which it is to be used, as specified. Existing law specifically prohibits the Secretary of State from certifying or conditionally approving a voting system that lacks certain features. This bill would in addition prohibit the Secretary of State from certifying or conditionally approving a voting system after December 31, 2017, that is not capable of generating information contained in the statement of the result in both downloadable spreadsheet and Election Markup Language (EML) formats and enabling data to be transferred from this system to an external digital medium, as specified. By imposing additional obligations on county elections officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.