SB 1418 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Preservation of election materials.

Summary

Under existing law, various election materials, including ballots, voter rosters, and related documents, must be maintained for a certain amount of time following an election. If an election contest or criminal prosecution has been commenced before the date voted ballots will be destroyed, the ballots may not be destroyed until after final determination of the contest or prosecution. This bill would expand that provision to prohibit the destruction of any document or record that must be preserved after an election and any certified voting technology or electronic data, as defined, used for the election until after final determination of any contest or criminal prosecution. Existing law requires, for an election for the office of the President, Vice president, United States Senator, and United States Representative, specified data to be kept by an elections official, on electronic media, stored and unaltered, for 22 months from the date of the election. For all state and local elections, existing law requires the electronic data to be kept on electronic media for 6 months from the date of the election. This bill would clarify the types of electronic media holding the specified data to include, but not be limited to, a hard drive, solid-state drive, flash drive, memory card, or other digital storage device. The bill would require the electronic media holding the data to be stored in a sealed container. Existing law makes it a crime to knowingly take a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official. Existing law also authorizes the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and appropriate local elections officials to bring a civil action against a person, business, or entity that takes a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official. This bill would apply the crime and the authorization to bring a civil action to taking any document, record, certified voting technology, or electronic data, as defined, or portions thereof including source code, or any other election-related material or equipment necessary to the conduct of an election, from the custody of the elections official. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, the bill would create 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Aug 2026

Senate Passage

Aug 2026

Assembly Passage

Aug 2026

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2026 Last action Aug 27, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

08/13/26 - Amended Assembly → SB1418 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The enrolled version of SB 1418 made three substantive changes from the Amended Assembly version: it broadened the range of Elections Code sections whose preservation requirements trigger protection from destruction (now covering Sections 17300 through 17306 inclusive, adding Section 17305), it removed 'criminal investigation' as a trigger that prevents destruction of election materials (leaving only 'contest or criminal prosecution'), and it added Section 19230 as an additional exception to the prohibition on removing election materials from an elections official's custody. These changes fine-tune the balance between preserving evidence and allowing routine disposal of election records.

SCOPE

The range of Elections Code sections whose preservation requirements trigger protection from destruction was broadened from 'Section 17300 to Section 17304, 17306, inclusive' to 'Section 17300 to Section 17306, inclusive,' now also covering Section 17305.

Section 15551(d) now references 'Sections 15553 or 19230' as exceptions to the prohibition on removing election materials from an elections official's custody, adding Section 19230 as a new permitted pathway for removal.

REQUIREMENT

The trigger that prevents destruction of election documents and certified voting technology was narrowed: the old version protected materials if a 'contest, criminal investigation, contest or criminal prosecution' was pending, while the enrolled version only requires a 'contest or criminal prosecution.' A criminal investigation alone no longer freezes destruction.

TECHNICAL

Removed redundant wording in Sections 18564.5(a)(7) and 18568(i) where 'certified voting technology technology' appeared due to drafting overlap, and cleaned up the digest language to match the statutory text.

06/11/26 - Amended Assembly → 08/13/26 - Amended Assembly · 7 edits · Aug 13, 2026

MODERATE

The August 13, 2026 amendment to SB 1418 adds two entirely new sections (17601 and 17602) requiring elections officials to preserve electronic data from voting systems on sealed digital storage media for 22 months after federal elections and 6 months after state/local elections. It also expands the criminal and civil penalties for removing election materials to cover electronic data and any other election-related equipment, removes a provision about meetings of elections officials, and declares the bill an urgency statute so it takes effect before the November 3, 2026 gubernatorial election.

REQUIREMENT

New Section 17601 requires elections officials to preserve specified electronic data (voting system data, ballot on demand data, adjudication data, remote vote by mail data, electronic poll book data, HASH values, and ballot images) on digital storage media for 22 months after federal elections. The media must be stored in a sealed container.

New Section 17602 requires the same types of electronic data to be preserved for 6 months after all state and local elections not covered by Section 17601, also in a sealed container. If no contest or criminal prosecution is commenced within the retention period, the backups must be destroyed.

SCOPE

The prohibition on destroying election materials (Section 15551) and the criminal/civil penalties for removing them (Sections 18564.5 and 18568) now explicitly include 'electronic data' as defined in Section 17600, as well as 'any other election-related material or equipment necessary to the conduct of an election.'

Section 15551(d) now references Section 19230 as an additional exception to the prohibition on removing election materials from custody, in addition to the existing Section 15553 exception.

The amendment to Section 11 of the Elections Code, which authorized county and city elections officials to meet up to 4 times per calendar year to discuss election administration matters, has been removed from the bill entirely.

TIMELINE

A new Section 10 declares the bill an urgency statute that takes effect immediately, specifically so it applies to the November 3, 2026 statewide gubernatorial election.

TECHNICAL

The vote requirement changed from a simple majority to a two-thirds vote, and the fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating a fiscal impact analysis is now required. The state-mandated local program designation also changed from 'no' to 'yes.'

03/24/26 - Amended Senate → 06/11/26 - Amended Assembly · 7 edits · Jun 11, 2026

MODERATE

The Assembly completely transformed SB 1418 from a narrow bill about source code escrow for voting systems into a comprehensive election materials preservation and protection measure. The new version expands what election materials must be preserved (beyond ballots to all documents and certified voting technology), creates broad civil penalties up to $50,000 per act for various forms of election interference, and adds criminal penalties of up to three years imprisonment for taking election documents or technology from official custody. The original source code escrow provisions were removed entirely.

SCOPE

The entire Section 19212 source code escrow provision (requiring vendors to deposit approved source code into escrow within 10 business days of certification) was deleted from the bill.

The bill now amends Sections 15550, 15551, 18564.5, and 18568 of the Elections Code instead of Section 19212, fundamentally changing its subject matter from source code escrow to election materials preservation and anti-interference protections.

REQUIREMENT

Section 15551 now prohibits destruction of any document subject to preservation requirements and any certified voting technology (including source code) until after final determination of a contest, criminal investigation, or criminal prosecution - expanding beyond just voted ballots.

ENFORCEMENT

Section 18564.5 creates civil penalties up to $50,000 per act for seven categories of conduct: tampering with voting machines, interfering with ballot secrecy or tally software source codes, unauthorized access to voting machines, substituting forged or malicious source code, inserting uncertified hardware/software/firmware, failing to notify the Secretary of State of changes, and taking documents or certified voting technology from custody.

Section 18568 adds a new criminal offense (subdivision i) punishable by up to $1,000 fine and/or 16 months to three years imprisonment for knowingly taking any document, record, or certified voting technology from the custody of an elections official.

FISCAL

State-mandated local program designation changed from 'no' to 'yes' because the expanded criminal provisions create costs for local agencies. A no-reimbursement clause was added citing the new crime exception under Section 17556 of the Government Code.

TECHNICAL

The meeting frequency increase from 3 to 4 times per year (Section 11) was retained but moved to the end of the bill as a separate section, and gendered pronouns were updated to 'their' throughout.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 27, 2026 · Assembly Aug 20, 2026

How they voted

37–0

Passed · 3 other

Total votes 40

Apr 27, 2026

D Democratic30

27 Yea 3

90% Yea

R Republican10

10 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Aug 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 30. Noes 10.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

upper

Aug 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Urgency clause adopted.

upper

Aug 26, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: That the Assembly amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.)

upper

Aug 24, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(d). (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.

upper

Aug 24, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10(d).

upper

Aug 20, 2026

Assembly · Passed

Assembly Vote: pass (59-13-6)

assembly

Aug 20, 2026

Introduced

In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

upper

Aug 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate.

lower

Aug 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

lower

Aug 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 2.) (August 13).

lower

Jul 1, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (July 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

lower

Jun 30, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on ELECTIONS. (Ayes 8. Noes 1.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS.

lower

Jun 15, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and ELECTIONS pursuant to Assembly Rule 96.

lower

Jun 11, 2026

Lower · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ELECTIONS.

lower

May 11, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on ELECTIONS.

lower

Apr 27, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 4067.) Ordered to the Assembly.

upper

Apr 21, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 3971.) (April 21).

upper

Apr 8, 2026

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.

upper

Mar 24, 2026

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Mar 4, 2026

Committee

Referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Introduced

Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors