Guidelines for abbreviation and acronyms

  • Avoid using abbreviations or acronyms. If abbreviations or acronyms are absolutely necessary, always spell out the first mention followed by the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses.
    • Example:
      • The Secretary of State attended the winter meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS). NASS meets twice a year.
  • Do not abbreviate Secretary of State as SOS.
  • Avoid using periods in acronyms, except for post office.
  • Acronyms that are proper nouns should be used without the in front.
    • Example:
      • Correct: DMV will forward the information.
      • Incorrect: The DMV will forward the information.

SOS abbreviation and acronyms

  • AB – Assembly Bill
  • ACA – Assembly Constitutional Amendment
  • ACR – Assembly Concurrent Resolution
  • ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act
  • AG – Attorney General (see also DOJ)
  • AHCD – Advance Health Care Directive
  • AI or AIP – American Independent or American Independent Party
  • AJR – Assembly Joint Resolution
  • Apt. – Apartment
  • Asm. – Assemblymember
  • Attn – Attention (meaning “to the attention of” in a postal address)
  • Ave. – Avenue
  • BA – Bachelor of Arts degree
  • BE – Business Entities
  • BS – Bachelor of Science degree
  • Bldg. – Building
  • BPD – Business Programs Division
  • CA – California
  • CAL-ACCESS – California Automated Lobbying and Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Search System
  • CID – Common Interest Development
  • Cir. – Circle
  • Co. – County
  • CSS – Cascading Style Sheet
  • Ct. – Court
  • Ctr. – Center
  • D or Dem – Democrat or Democratic Party
  • DA – District Attorney
  • DC – District of Columbia; Washington, DC
  • Dept. – Department
  • DDS – Doctor of Dental Surgery
  • DMV – California Department of Motor Vehicles
  • DOB – Date of Birth
  • DOJ – California Department of Justice (see also: AG) or United States Department of Justice
  • DP – Domestic Partners
  • Dr. – Doctor
  • Dr. – Drive
  • DRE – Direct Recording Electronic (a type of voting machine)
  • DTS – Decline to State (verb) or decline-to-state voter (noun), i.e., a voter who chooses to not affiliate with a political party
  • E – East
  • EA – Enrolling Agency
  • EEO – Equal Employment Opportunity
  • e.g. – Latin term exempli gratia meaning “for example”
  • et al – Latin term et alii meaning “and others”
  • etc. – Latin term et cetera meaning “and so forth”
  • FA – Foreign Association
  • FEC – Federal Election Commission
  • Fl. – Floor
  • FOIA – Federal Freedom of Information Act
  • FPPC – California Fair Political Practices Commission
  • FTB – California Franchise Tax Board
  • G or Grn – Green or Green Party
  • Gov. – Governor
  • GP – General Partnership
  • HAVA – federal Help America Vote Act
  • Hon. – Honorable
  • HR – Human Resources
  • HR – House Resolution in United States Congress
  • HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol
  • HTTPS – Hypertext Transport Protocol Secure
  • Hwy. – Highway
  • IAA – Inter-agency Agreement
  • i.e. – Latin term id est meaning “that is” or “in other words”
  • Inc. – Incorporated
  • IP – Internet protocol address; also known as IP number
  • IRS – United States Internal Revenue Service
  • ITD – Information Technology Division
  • JD – Doctor of Jurisprudence
  • JPA – Joint Powers Agreement
  • LLC – Limited Liability Company
  • LLP – Limited Liability Partnership
  • LLLP – Limited Liability Limited Partnership
  • Ln. – Lane
  • LP – Limited Partnership
  • Lib – Libertarian or Libertarian Party
  • MA – Master of Arts degree
  • MBA – Master of Business Administration degree
  • MD – Doctor of Medicine degree
  • MOA – Memorandum of Agreement
  • MOU – Memorandum of Understanding
  • MS – Master of Science degree
  • MSD – Management Services Division
  • N – North
  • NASS – National Association of Secretaries of State
  • NE – Northeast
  • No. – Number (never use the # symbol for this purpose)
  • NW – Northwest
  • PC – Personal Computer
  • P&F – Peace and Freedom or Peace and Freedom Party
  • PhD – Doctor of Philosophy degree
  • Pkwy. – Parkway
  • Pl. – Place
  • Plz. – Plaza
  • P.O. – Post Office
  • PRA – California Political Reform Act
  • PRA – California Public Records Act
  • PRD – Political Reform Division
  • PSR – Public Service Request
  • R or Rep – Republican or Republican Party
  • Rd. – Road
  • RFA – Request for Application
  • RFI – Request for Information
  • RFO – Request for Offer
  • RFP – Request for Proposal
  • RFQ – Request for Quote
  • Rm. – Room
  • RSS – Really Simple Syndication
  • Rte. – Route
  • S – South
  • SAH – Safe at Home
  • SB – Senate Bill
  • SCA – Senate Constitutional Amendment
  • SCR – Senate Concurrent Resolution
  • SE – Southeast
  • Sen. – Senator
  • SI – Statement of Information
  • sic – Indicates an error that is “thus in the original”
  • SJR – Senate Joint Resolution
  • SM – Servicemark
  • Sq. – Square
  • SSA – United States Social Security Administration
  • SSN – Social Security Number
  • St. – Street
  • Ste. – Suite
  • SW – Southwest
  • TDD – Teletype Device for the Deaf (usually computer-related or digital)
  • TM – Trademark
  • TTY – Teletypewriter for the Deaf (usually a typewriter)
  • TV – Television
  • UA – Unincorporated Association
  • UCC – Uniform Commercial Code
  • UNA – Unincorporated Nonprofit Association
  • URL – Uniform Resource Locator; a web address on the Internet
  • VIG – Secretary of State’s official Statewide Voter Information Guide (also known as ballot pamphlet)
  • VBM – Vote by Mail (hyphenated when used as qualifier before noun, as in vote-by-mail ballot or vote-by-mail voter)
  • VCFCF – Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund
  • VMB – Voting Modernization Board
  • VRC – Voter Registration Card
  • W – West
  • XML – Extensible Markup Language