Section 13114 Of Chapter 2. Forms Of Ballots: Ballot Order From California Elections Code >> Division 13. >> Chapter 2.
13114
. (a) At any regular meeting of a city council held prior to
the date on which the Secretary of State conducts the randomized
alphabet drawing applicable to the regular municipal election under
Section 13112, or, under Section 13113, applicable to a special
election called to fill a vacancy on the city council, the city
council may, by resolution, provide for the rotation on the ballot of
the names of candidates for any elective city office.
(b) A resolution adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall specify
which regular statewide election precincts or, if precincts have
been consolidated for purposes of the city election, which
consolidated precincts, shall constitute each cluster of precincts
for purposes of the rotation of candidates' names on the ballot.
(c) (1) As used in this section, a "cluster" shall consist of one
or more precincts which need not be contiguous. The clusters of
precincts shall be numbered in consecutive order for purposes of
ballot rotation of candidates' names, and the resolution shall list
the clusters by number and identify which precincts are in each
cluster.
(2) No cluster of precincts shall contain a number of registered
voters which is more than 10 percent greater or lesser than the
average number of registered voters for a cluster as of the most
recent estimate by the county elections official of the number of
registered voters in each regular precinct in the city prior to the
adoption of the resolution. The resolution shall set forth the total
number of registered voters in each cluster.
(d) A resolution adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall specify
that, in the cluster designated as cluster number one, the names
shall appear on the ballot in the order determined by the Secretary
of State's randomized alphabet drawing. For each successive cluster,
the resolution shall specify the manner of determining the order of
the candidates' names by applying the following:
(1) If the number of candidates for an office is equal to or less
than the number of clusters, in cluster number two and each
successive cluster, the name appearing first in the last preceding
cluster shall be placed last, the order of the other names remaining
unchanged.
(2) If the number of candidates for an office is greater than the
number of clusters, the former shall be divided by the latter. If the
resulting quotient is a mixed number and the fractional part of the
mixed number is less than one-half, the fraction shall be discarded.
If the fractional part of the mixed number is one-half or greater,
the quotient shall be raised to the next largest whole number. The
whole number that results from this process shall be the number of
candidates that, in cluster number two and each successive cluster,
shall be taken from the beginning of the list and placed at the end
of the list, the order of the other names remaining unchanged.
(e) (1) No city may provide for rotation of candidates' names on
the ballot for a particular election unless the resolution
authorizing it, in accordance with this section, is adopted by the
city council at a regular meeting, at which the city elections
official has provided cost estimates of this rotation, prior to the
date of the randomized alphabet drawing applicable to the election.
(2) A city council resolution that provides for rotation of
candidates' names pursuant to this section for any election which is
consolidated with any county or state election shall also provide for
the payment of computer programming, formatting, preparation, and
all similar related administrative costs associated with development
of the ballot on which those names appear.