California Code of Regulations › Title 2 - Administration › Division 7 - Secretary of State › Chapter 2 - Risk Limiting Audits › Section 20117 - Ballot Manifest and Ballot Handling

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) The elections official shall maintain an
				accurate ballot manifest, created without reliance on the voting system. The
				ballot manifest shall uniquely identify the storage container in which each
				validly cast ballot card is stored after tabulation.
(b) The ballot manifest shall be in the
				format required by the RLA software tool in the California Post-Election
				Risk-Limiting Audit Ballot Manifest Format document dated October 15, 2019,
				which is hereby incorporated by reference, and which the Secretary of State
				shall post on its website.
(c) If
				the audit commences after all validly cast ballot(s) have been tabulated, the
				elections official shall create only one ballot manifest.
(d) If the audit commences before all validly
				cast ballot(s) have been tabulated, the elections official shall create two
				ballot manifests, one before each phase of the audit: an initial ballot
				manifest that includes all ballot cards that have been tabulated before the
				first phase of the audit starts, followed by the final ballot manifest
				including all tabulated ballot cards.
(e) The content of the initial ballot
				manifest shall not be changed in the final manifest; accordingly, no ballot
				cards shall be added to the containers included in the initial manifest.
				Instead, the tabulated ballot cards that are not included in the initial ballot
				manifest shall be stored in new containers, and the final ballot manifest shall
				include all the rows in the initial ballot manifest plus a row for each new
				container.
Example: 1,000,000 ballot cards were cast in the county, of
				  which 900,000 had been tabulated when the elections official decided to start
				  the first phase of a two-phase audit. The initial ballot manifest includes
				  those 900,000 ballot cards. Ultimately, 97,000 of the remaining 100,000 ballot
				  cards are determined to be validly cast. These ballot cards are tabulated and
				  are stored in new containers. The final ballot manifest consists of the initial
				  ballot manifest plus additional rows that describe the new containers in which
				  these 97,000 ballot cards are stored, for a total count of 997,000 ballot cards
				  in the ballot manifest for the second audit phase.
1. New section
				  filed 3-5-2020; operative 3-5-2020 pursuant to Government Code section
				  11343.4(b)(3)
				  (Register 2020, No. 10).
2. Governor Newsom issued Executive Order
				  N-34-20 (2019 CA EO 34-20), dated March 20, 2020, which extended certain
				  deadlines relating to the presidential primary and special general elections,
				  due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Amendment of section and NOTE filed
				  12-9-2021; operative 12-9-2021 pursuant to Government Code section
				  11343.4(b)(3)
				  (Register 2021, No. 50).
Note: Authority cited: Section
					 12172.5,
					 Government Code; and Section
					 15367,
					 Elections Code. Reference: Section
					 15367,
					 Elections Code.