Section § 2020

Explanation

This law explains how to calculate the duration of a person's residence, known as domicile, for voting purposes. You start counting from the day the person moved there and stop counting on the election day itself.

The term of domicile is computed by including the day on which the person’s domicile commenced and by excluding the day of the election.

Section § 2021

Explanation

This law explains that if you leave your home to go somewhere else temporarily, either in your state or another state, with plans to return home, you don't lose your permanent home status (domicile). Similarly, if you go to a new place just for a short stay without intending to make it your permanent home, you don't gain a new permanent home status there.

(a)CA Elections Code § 2021(a) A person who leaves his or her home to go into another state or precinct in this state for temporary purposes merely, with the intention of returning, does not lose his or her domicile.
(b)CA Elections Code § 2021(b) A person does not gain a domicile in any precinct into which he or she comes for temporary purposes merely, without the intention of making that precinct his or her home.

Section § 2022

Explanation

This law states that if someone moves to a different state and intends to make that new state their permanent home, they will no longer be considered a resident for voting purposes in the original state.

If a person moves to another state with the intention of making it his or her domicile, the voter loses his or her domicile in this state.

Section § 2023

Explanation

This law states that if someone moves out of California to live in another state indefinitely, they lose their status as a California resident, even if they plan to return someday.

If a person moves to another state as a place of permanent residence, with the intention of remaining there for an indefinite time, he or she loses his or her domicile in this state, notwithstanding that he or she intends to return at some future time.

Section § 2024

Explanation

This law states that if you want to change your legal residence to another place, both moving there and planning to make it your new home must happen. Just planning to move without actually doing it, or moving without the intention to make it your home, doesn't count.

The mere intention to acquire a new domicile, without the fact of removal avails nothing, neither does the fact of removal without the intention.

Section § 2025

Explanation

This provision says that just because you are temporarily in a place due to certain reasons, like working for the government, studying, or being in a facility like a prison, it doesn't mean you automatically change your legal home, or 'domicile'. However, if you're a student and truly decide to make the place where you're studying your new home, you can register to vote there.

A person does not gain or lose a domicile solely by reason of his or her presence or absence from a place while employed in the service of the United States or of this state, nor while engaged in navigation, nor while a student of any institution of learning, nor while kept in an almshouse, asylum or prison. This section shall not be construed to prevent a student at an institution of learning from qualifying as an elector in the locality where he or she domiciles while attending that institution, when in fact the student has abandoned his or her former domicile.

Section § 2026

Explanation

This law states that a member of the California Legislature or a U.S. Representative will be considered to live at the residence address listed on their voter registration, as long as it's a residence recognized by law. This is true even if they have another home where certain activities occur, such as having a child enrolled in school, a partner's job location, receiving mail, owning property, having utility services or making tax claims, registering vehicles, holding insurance, or keeping personal belongings.

The domicile of a Member of the Legislature or a Representative in the Congress of the United States shall be conclusively presumed to be at the residence address indicated on that person’s currently filed affidavit of registration, as long as the address is a residence under subdivision (c) of Section 349, notwithstanding that the member or representative may have another residence at which any of the following apply:
(a)CA Elections Code § 2026(a) A child for whom the member or representative is a parent, step-parent, foster parent, guardian, or caretaker is enrolled in school.
(b)CA Elections Code § 2026(b) The spouse, domestic partner, or intimate partner of the member or representative is located for employment.
(c)CA Elections Code § 2026(c) The member or representative receives mail or other postal or parcel deliveries.
(d)CA Elections Code § 2026(d) The member or representative owns, leases, or rents a dwelling.
(e)CA Elections Code § 2026(e) The member or representative claims a homeowner’s exemption or any other similar claim for tax purposes.
(f)CA Elections Code § 2026(f) The member or representative maintains accounts or pays for utilities, cable or satellite television, Internet service, home security service, home or landscape maintenance, or other similar services.
(g)CA Elections Code § 2026(g) The member or representative registers a vehicle or boat.
(h)CA Elections Code § 2026(h) The member or representative maintains policies of insurance.
(i)CA Elections Code § 2026(i) The member or representative has items of personal property.

Section § 2027

Explanation

Your home for voting purposes is generally where your family lives, unless it's just a temporary spot. Even if you live in a trailer, vehicle, or at a campsite, that can be considered your voting home if you meet certain rules.

The place where a person’s family is domiciled is his or her domicile unless it is a place for temporary establishment for his or her family or for transient objects.
Residence in a trailer or vehicle or at any public camp or camping ground may constitute a domicile for voting purposes if the registrant complies with the other requirements of this article.

Section § 2028

Explanation

This law explains how to determine where a person legally lives, also known as domicile, which is important for voting and other legal purposes. If someone lives in one place with their family but works in another, their official home is where their family is. However, if they move to a new place with the intention of staying, and their family does not join them, their domicile is in the new location. They can also live at the same place where they do business.

If a person has a family fixed in one place, and the person does business in another place, the former is the person’s place of domicile. However, if the person having a family fixed in one place, has taken up an abode in another place with the intention of remaining, and the person’s family does not so reside with the person, the person is a domiciliary where the person has so taken up the abode. For purposes of this section, a person may take up an abode at the same place at which the person does business.

Section § 2029

Explanation

This law states that each spouse's official residence, or 'domicile,' is determined separately. One spouse's domicile isn't automatically considered the same as the other's. Instead, each spouse's domicile must be determined independently based on the rules of this article.

The domicile of one spouse shall not be presumed to be that of the other, but shall be determined independently in accordance with this article.

Section § 2030

Explanation

If you live in California and marry someone who is only temporarily in California working for the U.S. government, you can choose to keep your California residency specifically for voting purposes. However, if you register to vote in another state or territory, your California residency for voting purposes ends.

A domiciliary of this state who marries a person employed temporarily in this state in the service of the United States government, may elect to retain his or her domicile for the purpose of qualifying as an elector only, except that his or her domicile in this state shall terminate if the domiciliary qualifies as an elector in any other state or any territory.

Section § 2031

Explanation

This California law talks about determining your main home, or domicile, if you have more than one residence. If you have a homeowner’s property tax exemption on one house, it's generally assumed that house is your main home. However, if a different address is on your driver’s license or vehicle registration, this assumption doesn’t apply. Similarly, if you get a renter’s tax credit for a place, it's assumed that's your main home unless another address is listed on your DMV records. This rule doesn’t apply to state or federal elected officials.

If a person has more than one residence and that person maintains a homeowner’s property tax exemption on the dwelling of one of the residences pursuant to Section 218 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the residence subject to the homeowner’s property tax exemption is that person’s domicile. However, this presumption shall not apply in the event any other residence is listed as the person’s current residence address on any driver’s license, identification card or vehicle registration issued to that person by, and on file with, the Department of Motor Vehicles.
If a person has more than one residence and that person claims a renter’s tax credit for one of the residences pursuant to Section 17053.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the residence subject to the renter’s tax credit is that person’s domicile. However, this presumption shall not apply in the event any other residence is listed as the person’s current residence address on any driver’s license, identification card, or vehicle registration issued to that person by, and on file with, the Department of Motor Vehicles.
This section shall not be applicable to state or federal elected officials.

Section § 2032

Explanation

This law says that if someone has multiple homes and hasn't lived in any of them over the past year, it's generally assumed those homes aren't their main home, or 'domicile.' However, this assumption can be challenged if there is evidence to the contrary.

Except as provided in this article, if a person has more than one residence and that person has not physically resided at any one of the residences within the immediate preceding year, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that those residences in which he or she has not so resided within the immediate preceding year are merely residences as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 349 and not his or her domicile.

Section § 2033

Explanation

If a voter's house number or mailing address changes, but they still live in the same place, the agency that updates the address must inform the county elections official. The elections official will update the voter's registration, and the voter doesn't have to fill out a new registration form.

Whenever the house number or the mailing address of a voter has been changed and the voter’s domicile is the same, the public agency authorizing the change shall notify the county elections official in writing of the change and the county elections official shall make the change on the voter’s affidavit of registration and a new affidavit shall not be required.

Section § 2034

Explanation

If someone lives in a house or apartment that spans more than one voting district, they will be automatically registered to vote in the district chosen by the local election officials based on their street address. However, if they prefer to be registered in a different district that their residence also lies in, they can request this change in writing or in person at the election office. The request must include their name, signature, and address.

A person domiciled in a house or apartment lying in more than one precinct shall be registered as domiciled in the precinct designated by the county elections official on the basis of the street address or other precinct the county elections official considers appropriate unless the person requests, either by letter or in person at the office of the county elections official, that he or she wishes to be domiciled for registration purposes in another precinct in which his or her house or apartment lies. In order to fulfill the requirements of this section, the letter of request shall include the name, signature, and residence address of the requester.

Section § 2035

Explanation

If you're registered to vote in a California precinct but move to a different location within 14 days before an election, you can still vote in your old precinct on election day until the polls close.

A person duly registered as a voter in any precinct in California who removes therefrom within 14 days prior to an election shall, for the purpose of that election, be entitled to vote in the precinct from which the person so removed until the close of the polls on the date of that election.