Information Technology Division

Digital Signatures (Certificate of Compliance)

The proposed regulations were submitted to the Office of Administrative Law, the state agency responsible for reviewing and approving state regulations. These proposed regulations are a certificate of compliance action to make the emergency regulations currently in effect, permanent. The emergency regulations can be accessed at: https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/regulations/current-regulations/technology/emergency-digital-signatures.

The 45-day written public comment period is November 13, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Any interested person, or their authorized representative, may submit written comments pertaining to the proposed regulations. No hearing date has been scheduled; however, any interested person, or their authorized representative, can submit a written request for a public hearing no later than 15 days prior to the close of the written comment period.

Elections Division

Access to Voter Registration Information

The Secretary of State is providing notice of changes to the regulations originally published on November 27, 2020. The Secretary of State is proposing amendments to the originally-noticed proposed regulation text to address concerns raised during the initial 45- day public comment period and the subsequent first 15-day public comment period that ended on March 22, 2021, and, the second 15-day public comment period that ended on July 15, 2021. Any interested person, or their authorized representative, may submit written comments pertaining to the changes in the text of the proposed regulations. The Secretary of State will accept written comments on the changes from August 10, 2021, to August 25, 2021. The Secretary of State will consider only comments received at the Secretary of State’s office by that date.

Vote-by-Mail Ballot Drop Boxes and Vote-by-Mail Drop-Off Locations

The Secretary of State is providing notice of changes to the regulations originally published on March 12, 2021. The Secretary of State is proposing amendments to the originally-noticed proposed regulation text to address concerns raised during the 45-day and the subsequent 15-day public comment period. Any interested person, or their authorized representative, may submit written comments pertaining to the changes in the text of the proposed regulations. The Secretary of State will accept written comments on the changes from August 13, 2021, to August 30, 2021. The Secretary of State will consider only comments received at the Secretary of State’s office by that date.

Following the close of the written comment period, the Secretary of State, upon its own motion or at the instance of any interested party, may thereafter adopt the proposals provided by the public or may modify such proposals if such modifications are sufficiently related to the original text. With the exception of technical or grammatical changes, the full text of any modified proposal will be available from our office for 15 days prior to its adoption and will be mailed to those persons who submit written comments related to this proposal or who have requested notification of any changes to the proposal.

Second Readopt of Emergency Regulations: Vote-by-Mail Ballot Drop Boxes and Vote-by-Mail Drop-Off Locations

The Secretary of State is proposing a second readoption of emergency regulations relating to vote-by-mail drop boxes it adopted on June 21, 2020, that amended Section 20136 of Chapter 3 of Division 7 of Title 2 of the California Code of Regulations. The regulations provide elections officials to make vote-by-mail drop boxes available as soon as the elections officials begin mailing vote-by-mail ballots to their voters. The purpose of the readoption is to keep the emergency regulations in effect during the time of the regular rulemaking process to make the emergency regulations permanent (Certificate of Compliance regulatory action) for which the public comment period has started on March 12, 2021. For information on the Certificate of Compliance action, please refer to CC/ROV Memorandum #21034 and 21057.

This notice period will run from August 3, 2021, through August 10, 2021. At the end of the notice period, the Secretary of State will submit the required documents to the Office of Administrative Law for the readoption of these emergency regulations.

Risk Limiting Audits

The Secretary of State is providing notice of changes to the regulations originally published on June 21, 2021. The Secretary of State is proposing amendments to the originally-noticed proposed regulation text to address concerns raised during the 45-day public comment period. Any interested person, or their authorized representative, may submit written comments pertaining to the changes in the text of the proposed regulations. The Secretary of State will accept written comments on the changes from September 3, 2021, to October 18, 2021. The Secretary of State will consider only comments received at the Secretary of State’s office by that date.

Statewide Voter Registration System and Conditional Voter Registration 

The Secretary of State has submitted proposed regulations to the Office of Administrative Law to make permanent the emergency regulations it adopted in October 2020 related to the statewide voter registration system and conditional voter registration. The emergency regulations made changes to the reason codes for vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots, and conditional voter registration provisional ballots.  In addition to the permanent adoption of the emergency regulations, the Secretary of State has made additional changes to the text of proposed regulations.

The 45-day written public comment period will end on August 5, 2021.  Any interested person, or their authorized representative, may submit written comments pertaining to the changes in the text of the proposed regulations. The Secretary of State will accept written comments on the changes until 11:59 p.m. on August 5, 2021. The Secretary of State will only consider comments received at the Secretary of State's office by that time. No hearing date has been scheduled; however, any interested person, or their authorized representative, can submit a written request for a public hearing no later than Wednesday, July 21.

Readopt of Emergency Regulations: Signature Verification, Ballot Processing, and Ballot Counting

The Secretary of State is proposing to readopt emergency regulations it adopted on September 28, 2020, that provided uniform guidance to elections officials for signature verification, ballot processing, and ballot counting.  The purpose of the readoption is to keep the emergency regulations in effect during the time of the regular rulemaking process to make the emergency regulations permanent.

The notice period will run from June 23, 2021, through June 30, 2021. At the end of the notice period, the Secretary of State will submit the required documents to the Office of Administrative Law for the readoption of these emergency regulations.

Readopt of Emergency Regulations: Risk Limiting Audits

The Secretary of State is proposing to readopt emergency regulations it adopted on September 10, 2020, that amended Sections 20110, 20111, 20114, and 20122 of Chapter 2 of Division 7 of Title 2 of the California Code of Regulations. The purpose of the readoption is to keep the emergency regulations in effect during the time of the regular rulemaking process to make the emergency regulations permanent (Certificate of Compliance regulatory action) for which the public comment period has started on June 18, 2021.

The notice period will run from July 7, 2021, through July 14, 2021. At the end of the notice period, the Secretary of State will submit the required documents to the Office of Administrative Law for the readoption of these emergency regulations.

Readopt of Emergency Regulations: Statewide Voter Registration System and Conditional Voter Registration

The Secretary of State is proposing to readopt emergency regulations it adopted in October 2020 related to the statewide voter registration system and conditional voter registration. The emergency regulations made changes to the reason codes for vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots, and conditional voter registration provisional ballots.. The purpose of the readoption is to keep the emergency regulations in effect during the time of the regular rulemaking process to make the emergency regulations permanent (Certificate of Compliance regulatory action) for which the public comment period has started on June 18, 2020. For information on the Certificate of Compliance action, please refer to CC/ROV Memorandums #21070 and #21072.

The notice period will run from July 19, 2021, through July 26, 2021. At the end of the notice period, the Secretary of State will submit the required documents to the Office of Administrative Law for the readoption of these emergency regulations.