California Secretary of State
From Ballotpedia
Contents |
The Secretary of State of California is the state's chief elections officer. The Secretary of State is also responsible for the California State Archives, as well as chartering corporations. The Secretary of State is elected to four year terms, concurrent with the other constitutional officers of California, and is restricted by term limits to only two terms.
Duties and divisions
The Secretary of State oversees 5 divisions. These are:
- Elections and Voter Information
- Campaign and Lobbying Information
- California Business Portal
- Archives and the California Museum
The two divisions that interact with the ballot process are "Elections and Voter Information" and "Campaign and Lobbying Information." These two divisions can be broken down into different duties.
Elections and Voter Information
- Registering to vote
- Absentee Voting
- candidates
- Initiatives
- Help America Vote Act
- Voting systems information
Campaign and Lobbying Information
- Campaign finance law
- Lobbying Activity
- Cal-Online
Responsibilities during the initiative process
The Secretary of State and the Attorney General are involved in the initiative and referendum process from the beginning. Each year the Secretary of State is responsible for creating a guide to the entire process in an easy to read format. From there the Secretary of State is an integral part in the process of the intitiative. To see how the guidelines of a ballot drive see the Ballotpedia article on California Initiative and Referendum Law.
Submission of a ballot
When a potential ballot measure is submitted to the state, it is first seen by the Attorney General, who verifies the legality of the ballot and creates a title and summary for it. When this summary is completed it is sent to the Secretary of State who prepares a calendar of filing deadlines. A copy of this is sent to the proponents of the ballot and to the Attorney General.
When the text and calendar of the initiative are approved, then the proponents will have 150 days to circulate the petition. However, regardless of when the proponents start circulation the petition, signatures must be filed with the Secretary of State within 131 days of the next statewide election.
Financing the initiative
Its important to note that "The Statement of Organization" (Form 410) is filed with the Secretary of State's Political Reform Division. In addition, it must also be filed with each filing officer who received a copy of the committee's campaign statement according to the California Code of Regulations, Section 18404(c).
Verification of Signatures
Verification of signatures goes through four phases.
- The initial phases is the raw count. This must be completed within 8 working days of filing the petition. At this time the signatures must meet 100 percent of the total number of signatures, otherwise the initiative will fail.
- Next the signatures will be put to the test through a random sample. This entails testing 3 percent or 500 signatures (whichever number is greater) for validity. This process must be completed within 30 working days of receipt of the notification given to the proponents at this time.
- The third phase is called 95 percent 110 percent and is conducted only if the signatures pass the first two phases. At this stage the Secretary of State applies a formula to determine the statewide total of valid signatures (Cal Admin. Code Section 20530-20532, 20540). If the total of valid signatures is less than 95 percent then the initiative is thrown out, and if it exceeds 110 percent then the initiative is placed on the ballot. However if the number of valid signatures falls between 95 and 110 percent then the Secretary of State will perform a full check.
- A full check is exactly what it sounds like. Every signature is validated. The entire process up to this point must be concluded within 30 days of the filing of the initiative.
Qualification of Approval
If the initiative meets the signature requirements then it is qualified on the day that the Secretary of State receive certificates from the county elections officials showing the petition has been signed by the requisite number of voters. The Secretary will transmit a certificate to each of the proponents of the initiative and to the Attorney General.
At this point the initiative is brought before the legislature for public hearings provided that no hearings are 30 days before the election. The legislature has no authority to alter or prevent the initiative at this stage.
Contact Information
The Secretary of State
Elections Division
1500 11th St., 5th floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-657-2166
See Also:
External links
Portions of this article were taken from Wikipedia on 8/8/07
