(a) The following provisions shall apply to all state or local elections not provided for in subdivision (a) of Section 17301. An election is not deemed a state or local election if votes for candidates for federal office may be cast on the same ballot as votes for candidates for state or local office.
(b) The packages containing the following items shall be kept by the elections official, unopened and unaltered, for six months from the date of the election:
(1) Voted polling place ballots.
(2) Paper cast vote records, as defined by Sections 305.5 and 19271.
(3) Voted vote by mail voter ballots.
(4) Vote by mail voter identification envelopes.
(5) Voted provisional voter ballots.
(6) Voted conditional voter registration ballots.
(7) Provisional ballot voter identification envelopes, including conditional voter registration voter identification envelopes cast pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 2170.
(8) Spoiled ballots.
(9) Canceled ballots.
(10) Unused vote by mail ballots surrendered by the voter pursuant to Section 3015.
(c) If a contest is not commenced within the six-month period, or if a criminal prosecution involving fraudulent use, marking or falsification of ballots, or forgery of vote by mail voters’ signatures is not commenced within the six-month period, either of which may involve the vote of the precinct from which voted ballots were received, the elections official shall have the items identified in subdivision (b) destroyed or recycled. The packages shall otherwise remain unopened until the items are destroyed or recycled.
(Amended by Stats. 2024, Ch. 605, Sec. 7. (SB 1328) Effective September 25, 2024.)