1. (a) For all CVR provisional ballots where the ballot return status is “Not Counted,” an appropriate reason code shall be assigned by the county elections official.
2. (b) If a CVR provisional ballot has not had a final adjudication, the county election official shall assign the ballot return status of “Not Counted” and either a temporary rejection reason code of “In review,” or one of the applicable rejection reason codes set forth in subdivision (c) below. Upon the final adjudication of the ballot, “In review” shall be replaced with either a ballot return status of “Counted” or with a rejection reason code for “Not Counted” as provided in subdivisions (c) and (d) below.

3. (c) A county elections official shall not count a CVR provisional ballot and shall assign the ballot a status of “Not Counted” with one of the reason codes listed below:

   1. 1. “Voter already voted.” This reason code shall be used when the voter has an accepted or counted ballot in California for that election, when the voter has previously

      1. (A) voted at a location as provided in Elections Code section 338.5,
      2. (B) returned a vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot in California that was accepted by a county elections official,
      3. (C) returned a provisional ballot that has been processed and counted in the same or another county, or
      4. (D) returned a CVR provisional ballot that has been processed and counted in the same or another county.
   2. 2. “No voter signature.” This reason code shall be used when the voter did not provide a signature on the CVR provisional ballot envelope.
   3. 3. “Non-matching signature.” This reason code shall be used when the voter provided a signature on the CVR provisional ballot envelope that did not compare to the signature on file with the county.
   4. 4. “Ballot missing from envelope.” This reason code shall be used when the CVR provisional ballot envelope did not contain a ballot.
   5. 5. “Voter not registered.” This reason code shall be used when the voter's record is in a deficient status pursuant to Elections Code section 2150 et seq., which means the registration does not contain the facts necessary to determine eligibility to vote, including name, place of residence and date of birth.
   6. 6. “Envelope was incomplete and/or illegible.” This reason code shall be used when the substantive information provided on the CVR provisional ballot envelope was missing or unclear.
   7. 7. “No ID provided.” This reason code shall be used in a federal election when a first-time registrant, who is also a first-time voter, did not provide a California driver license or state identification number or the last four (4) digits of their social security number when they registered to vote, pursuant to Section 19075 of Article 2.5 of chapter 1 of Division 7 of Title 2 of California Code of Regulations, and they did not provide the information required by Section 20107 of Article 7 of chapter 1 of Division 7 of Title 2 of California Code of Regulations, prior to the final adjudication of the ballot.
   8. 8. “Please contact your county for further information.” This reason code shall be used when the county rejection reason is not “In review” or as provided in (c)(1-7) above.

4. (d) The following additional reason codes apply to provisional ballots cast pursuant to Elections Code section 14310, but are not applicable to CVR provisional ballots:

   1. 1. “Voted in wrong county.”
   2. 2. “Voted wrong ballot.”

Note: Authority cited: Section 12172.5, Government Code; and Sections 10 and 2170, Elections Code. Reference: Sections 2170, 2171 and 14310, Elections Code.

History

1. New section filed 3-8-2018; operative 3-8-2018 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2018, No. 10).

2. Amendment of subsection (b), new subsection (c)7., subsection renumbering and amendment of newly designated subsection (c)8. filed 10-5-2020 as an emergency; operative 10-5-2020. Emergency expiration extended 60 days (Executive Order N-40-20) plus an additional 60 days (Executive Order N-66-20) (Register 2020, No. 41). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 8-3-2021 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

3. Amendment of subsection (b), new subsection (c)7., subsection renumbering and amendment of newly designated subsection (c)8. refiled 8-5-2021 as an emergency; operative 8-5-2021 (Register 2021, No. 32). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 11-3-2021 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

4. Amendment of subsection (b), new subsection (c)7., subsection renumbering and amendment of newly designated subsection (c)8. refiled 11-15-2021 as an emergency; operative 11-15-2021 (Register 2021, No. 47). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 2-14-2022 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

5. Certificate of Compliance as to 11-15-2021 order, including amendment of subsection (b), transmitted to OAL 12-14-2021 and filed 1-26-2022; amendments operative 1-25-2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 4).

6. Amendment of subsection (b) and Note filed 4-25-2022 as a deemed emergency pursuant to Elections Code 2170; operative 4-25-2022 (Register 2022, No. 17). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 10-24-2022 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

7. Amendment of subsection (b) and Note refiled 10-24-2022 as a deemed emergency pursuant to Elections Code 2170; operative 10-24-2022 (Register 2022, No. 43). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 1-23-2023 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

8. Certificate of Compliance as to 10-24-2022 order transmitted to OAL 1-20-2023 and filed 3-1-2023 (Register 2023, No. 9).