Student Voting Guide | California
Registration
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ (registration form available online)
The voter registration deadline is fifteen days before Election Day, and mail-in forms must be postmarked by that date.[1] If you become eligible to vote in California after the deadline but at least seven days before the election, including if you establish a new residency during that time, you can register at the county elections office until seven days before the election.[2] California has preregistration which means that you can register to vote when you turn 17.[3]
Residency
California defines voting residency as “domicile.”[4] Domicile includes the place where your habitation is fixed and you have “the intention of remaining.”[5] Your choice to make a place your domicile or residence is key in determining your residency for voting. The Secretary of State has made clear that students can choose between their school addresses and their parents’ homes when deciding where to register to vote.[6]
At School. California students who intend to establish their residence at a school address should have no problem registering and voting there. California law provides for voter registration services on college campuses, described below in the Registration section. California courts and the Attorney General have also made clear that if you move residences each school year and you cannot establish a new residence in time to register to vote (you do not have housing yet, for instance), you can vote at your previous school-year address.[7]
At Home. Students who lived in California before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their California voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote inanother state. Like all states, California allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you might lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered abandonment of residency in California, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Effect on Driver’s Licenses. If you are driving in California, you should be aware that your “domicile” determines whether or not you are required to get a California driver’s license, and the state can consider your voter registration in determining whether your domicile is in California.[8] You have ten days after becoming a California resident to get a new license.[9] If you have a car in California, you are also obligated to register it in California any time you intend to live in the state on more than a temporary or transient basis, and your voter registration can be considered in deciding that.[10] You have twenty days to register your car.[11]
Challenges to Residency. If your county elections official refuses to register you on the basis of your residency, you can challenge the refusal in court.[12] If another voter thinks that you are not a resident, he or she can also file an action in court to cancel your registration.[13]
At the polls, your eligibility to vote based on residency can only be challenged by a member of the precinct board—i.e., an official pollworker.[14] You will then be asked under oath whether you are a resident; if you answer “yes” without qualifying your answer, you can vote regularly.[15] If you refuse to answer the question, then you will not be allowed to vote.[16]
Identification
The only identification requirement California has is for first-time voters who register by mail and whose identifying numbers (California driver’s license or non-driver’s ID number or last four digits of a Social Security number) cannot be verified by the state. This is a very small number of voters. If you fall into this category, you will have to either include a copy of your ID with your registration, show ID at the polls, or submit a copy with your vote-by-mail ballot. A wide range of ID is accepted, and the ID requirements must be read in the way that is most likely to “permit voters and new registrants to vote.”[17]
Acceptable ID includes any current and valid photo ID, or any of the following documents with your name and address if they are dated within the past year: utility bill; bank statement; government check; government paycheck; or any other document issued by the government, including a sample ballot, other official communication for the election in question, or your voter notification card.[18] Any student ID with a photo is accepted; student housing bills, cell phone bills, and online printouts are also accepted.[19] If you attend a public college or university, any document from your school with your name and address should work. If you cannot show ID, you can vote a provisional ballot, which will be counted if your signature on the ballot matches your signature on record.[20]
Absentee Voting
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vote-by-mail/pdf/fill-in-vote-by-mail-app-instruct.pdf
California is a no-fault vote-by-mail state, meaning that you can choose to vote absentee without giving an excuse. All voters, including first-time voters, can vote by mail.[21] Your application for a vote-by-mail ballot must be received by the county elections official by the seventh day before the election; otherwise you must apply in person.[22] Blank applications are available online at the above link, and some counties allow you to submit an application online—check the web site for your county. You can also apply for permanent absentee status to be automatically mailed vote-by-mail ballots in future elections.[23] Your ballot must be received by the elections official or the precinct board by the close of polls on Election Day.[24] Neither your application nor your ballot has to be witnessed or notarized.
Early Voting
As a convenience to voters, California has early voting beginning 30 days before an election and ending on Election Day.[25] At early voting sites, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county. If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent.
Last updated in April 2010
[1] Cal Elec Code § 2102.
[2] Cal Elec Code § 3400.
[3] http://www.fairvote.org/youth-preregistration-fact-sheet/ (last visited on May 21, 2010).
[4] Cal. Elec. Code § 349(a) (West 2010).
[5] Cal. Elec. Code § 349(b).
[6] Secretary of State of California, “Voter Fraud Protection Handbook” 2 (2009), available at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vfph-2009.pdf (last visited on April 30, 2010).
[7] See, e.g., Walters v. Weed, 45 Cal. 3d 1 (Cal. Sup. 1988); 53 Op. Att’y Gen. Cal. 242 (Aug. 12, 1970).
[8] Cal Veh Code § 12505 (West 2010).
[9] Cal Veh Code § 12505(c).
[10] Cal Veh Code § 516.
[11] Cal Veh Code § 6700(c).
[12] Cal Elec Code § 2142(a)-(b) (West 2010) (“Action to compel registration upon refusal”).
[13]Cal Elec Code § 2213.
[14] Cal Elec Code § 14240 (West 2010).
[15] Cal Elec Code § 14244.
[16] Cal Elec Code § 14249.
[17] 2 Cal. Code Regs. § 20107(b) (2010).
[18] 2 Cal. Code Regs. § 20107(d)(1)-(2).
[19] Interview with Cathy Ingram-Kelly, Elections Division, Office of the California Secretary of State (April 16, 2008); see also Secretary of State of California, “FAQ #3: Standards for Proof of Residency when Proof is Required by HAVA” 1–2, available at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/hava_faq/faq3_id_084.pdf (last visited on April 30, 2010).
[20] Cal. Elec. Code § 14310(c)(1) (West 2010).
[21] Cal. Elec. Code § 3003.
[22] Cal. Elec. Code § 3001.
[23] Cal. Elec. Code § 3200.
[24] Cal. Elec. Code § 3020.
[25] Cal. Elec. Code § 3018.
