Cancellation of Voter Records in California

California law, in Elections Code Division 2, Chapter 3, Article 1, provides for the cancellation of voter records as well as voter file maintenance. Section 2200 provides that the registration of a voter is permanent for all purposes during his or her life, unless and until the affidavit of registration is canceled by the Secretary of State or the county elections official for any of the causes specified in this article.

Section 2201 requires the county elections official to cancel the registration in the following cases:

• At the signed, written request of the person registered.

• When the mental incompetency of the person registered is legally established.

• Upon proof that the person is presently imprisoned for conviction of a felony.

• Upon the production of a certified copy of a judgment directing the cancellation to be made.

• Upon the death of the person registered.

• Upon official notification that the voter is registered to vote in another state.

• Upon proof that the person is otherwise ineligible to vote.

In addition, the Secretary of State may cancel the registration in the following cases:

• When the mental incompetency of the person registered is legally established.

• Upon proof that the person is presently imprisoned for the conviction of a felony.

• Upon the death of the person registered.

Section 2202 requires the county elections official to preserve all uncanceled affidavits of registration in a secure manner that will protect the confidentiality of the voter information. In lieu of maintaining uncanceled affidavits of registration, the county elections official may microfilm, record on optical disc, or record on any other electronic medium that does not permit additions, deletions, or changes to the original document, the uncanceled affidavits of registration. Any such use of an electronic medium to record uncanceled affidavits must protect the security and confidentiality of the voter information.

Section 2205 requires the local registrar of births and deaths to notify the county elections official not later than the 15th day of each month of all deceased persons 16 years of age and over, whose deaths were registered with him or her or of whose deaths he or she was notified by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics during the preceding month. Thereafter, the county elections official is required to cancel the affidavit of registration of the deceased voter.

Section 2206 requires the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to facilitate the availability of death statistics from the State Department of Health Services. The data is required to be used by the Secretary of State or county elections officials in canceling the affidavit of registration of deceased persons.

Section 2208 provides that a person is presumed competent to vote regardless of his or her conservatorship status. A person is required to be deemed mentally incompetent, and therefore disqualified from voting, if, during the course of any of the official proceedings, the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the person cannot communicate, with or without reasonable accommodations, a desire to participate in the voting process.

Section 2209 requires the court investigator, during the yearly or biennial review of the conservatorship as required, to review the person’s capability of communicating, with or without reasonable accommodations, a desire to participate in the voting process.

Section 2210 provides that, if the person or the person and estate is under a conservatorship, the person may contest his or her disqualification from voting.

Section 2211 specifies that any person who (1) has plead not guilty by reason of insanity and who has been found to be not guilty, (2) has been found incompetent to stand trial and whose trial or judgment has been suspended, (3) has been convicted of a felony and who was judicially determined to be a mentally disordered sex offender, or (4) has been convicted of a felony and is being treated at a state hospital is disqualified from voting or registering to vote during that time that the person is involuntarily confined, pursuant to a court order, in a public or private facility.

Section 2212 requires the clerk of the superior court of each county, on the basis of the records of the court, to furnish to the Secretary of State and the county elections official in the format prescribed by the Secretary of State, every month, a statement showing the names, addresses, and dates of birth of all persons who have been committed to state prison as the result of a felony conviction since the clerk’s last report. Thereafter, the Secretary of State or county elections official must cancel the affidavits of registration of those persons who are currently imprisoned for the conviction of a felony.

Section 2213 provides that any person may proceed by action in the superior court to compel the county elections official to cancel any registration made illegally or which should be canceled by reason of facts that have occurred subsequent to the registration.