Elec. Code, § 17400 · Chapter 5. Recall Petitions
Elec. Code, § 17400
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) The elections official shall preserve in that person’s office all recall petitions filed for eight months after the results of the election for which the petition qualified or, if no election is held, eight months after the elections official’s final examination of the petition.
(b) Thereafter, the petition shall be destroyed as soon as practicable, unless it is in evidence in some action or proceeding then pending or unless the elections official has received a written request from the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Fair Political Practices Commission, a district attorney, a grand jury, or the governing body of a county, city and county, city, or district, including a school district, that the petition be preserved for use in a pending or ongoing investigation into election irregularities, or in a pending or ongoing investigation into a violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Title 9 (commencing with Section 81000) of the Government Code).
(c) Public access to the petition shall be restricted in accordance with Article 2 (commencing with Section 7924.100) of Chapter 2 of Part 5 of Division 10 of Title 1 of the Government Code.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended (as amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 615, Sec. 101) by Stats. 2022, Ch. 166, Sec. 5. (AB 2967) Effective January 1, 2023.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=ELEC§ionNum=17400.
- Text hash
- sha256 8af611c3c715ed223adc016e5c96b8f01c4a31b4c8a3ce29be344400d9063b75
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Government Code
- Gov. Code, tit. 1, div. 10, pt. 5, ch. 2, art. 2Initiative, Referendum, Recall, and Other Petitions and Related MaterialsPrinted as Article 2 (commencing with Section 7924.100) of Chapter 2 of Part 5 of Division 10 of Title 1 of the Government Code
- Gov. Code, tit. 9POLITICAL REFORMPrinted as Title 9 (commencing with Section 81000) of the Government Code
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.