Chapter 1Affidavits of Registration and Voter Registration Indexes

Section § 17000

Explanation

This law section outlines how California elections officials should handle canceled voter registration affidavits. They must keep the canceled originals for five years before they can destroy them. Alternatively, officials can record the affidavits by filming or another method and destroy the originals after the first general election following their cancellation.

(a)CA Elections Code § 17000(a) The elections official shall preserve all canceled original affidavits of registration for a period of five years, after which they may be destroyed by that officer.
(b)CA Elections Code § 17000(b) In lieu of preserving the canceled original affidavit of registration, the elections official may, by filming or other suitable method, record the canceled affidavit and destroy the affidavit following the first general election after the date of cancellation.
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(Enacted by Stats. 1994, Ch. 920, Sec. 2.)

Section § 17001

Explanation

The elections official must keep a copy of the voter roster as a public record for five years, which can be used for election-related, political, and government research purposes.

The elections official shall keep a copy of the roster described in Section 2183 on file as a public record for election, political research, and governmental purposes for a period of five years.
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(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 806, Sec. 78. (SB 286) Effective January 1, 2018.)