Elec. Code, § 18562.5 · Article 4. Corruption of Voting

Elec. Code, § 18562.5

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) A member of the public is guilty of a misdemeanor if, while observing any of the following, he or she willfully engages in any conduct set forth in subdivision (b):

(1) The processing of vote by mail ballots conducted pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 15100) of Division 15.

(2) The semifinal official canvass conducted pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 15150) of Division 15.

(3) The official canvass conducted pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 15300) of Division 15.

(4) A recount conducted pursuant to Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 15600) of Division 15.

(b) (1) Attempting to ascertain the identity and ballot choices of a voter, or having observed or learned the identity of a voter, attempting to ascertain the ballot choices of that voter.

(2) Opening a provisional or vote by mail ballot envelope containing a voted ballot in order to ascertain the voter’s ballot choices.

(3) Making or placing a mark or device on a ballot or secrecy envelope in an attempt to ascertain the voter’s ballot choices.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Added by Stats. 2009, Ch. 94, Sec. 1. (AB 269) Effective January 1, 2010.

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&sectionNum=18562.5.
Text hash: sha256 cbb84a9cf93a132a311b92af9b2435da276144f95e51fb3e7be2b519ea25afc9
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

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Elections Code

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