(a) (1) Within five days after the Secretary of State files a statement of the vote, as required by subdivision (b) of Section 15501, the Governor may order a state-funded manual recount of all votes cast for a statewide office or state ballot measure if any of the following occurs, except as provided in paragraph (3):
(A) The official canvass of returns in a statewide primary election shows that the difference in the number of votes received by the second and third place candidates for a statewide office is less than or equal to the lesser of 1,000 votes or 0.00015 of the number of all votes cast for that office except as provided in paragraph (2).
(B) The official canvass of returns in a statewide general election shows that the difference in the number of votes received by the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes for a statewide office is less than or equal to the lesser of 1,000 votes or 0.00015 of the number of all votes cast for that office.
(C) The official canvass of returns in a statewide election shows that the difference in the number of votes cast for and against a state ballot measure is less than or equal to the lesser of 1,000 votes or 0.00015 of the number of all votes cast on the measure.
(2) The Governor shall not order a state-funded manual recount of all votes cast for the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction pursuant to this section unless the official canvass of returns in a statewide primary election shows either of the following:
(A) The number of votes received by the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes was either of the following:
(i) Between 0.49985 and 0.50015, inclusive, of the number of all votes cast.
(ii) Within 1,000 votes of 50 percent of the number of all votes cast.
(B) No candidate for the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction received votes on a majority of all the ballots cast for candidates for that office and the difference in the number of votes received by the second and third place candidates for that office was less than or equal to the lesser of 1,000 votes or 0.00015 of the number of all votes cast for that office.
(3) If the conditions set forth in paragraph (1) are satisfied with respect to the number of votes cast for the office of Governor, the Secretary of State, but not the Governor, may order a state-funded manual recount pursuant to this section.
(4) For purposes of this subdivision, “statewide office” means the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Controller, Insurance Commissioner, Secretary of State, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Treasurer, or Member of the United States Senate.
(b) If a state-funded recount is conducted pursuant to this section, no other recount shall be conducted.
(c) The State shall reimburse counties for costs resulting from conducting a manual recount pursuant to this section in an expeditious manner upon certification of those costs.
(Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 723, Sec. 8. (AB 44) Effective January 1, 2016.)