Chapter 2. Grounds For Contest of California Elections Code >> Division 16. >> Chapter 2.
Any elector of a county, city, or of any political
subdivision of either may contest any election held therein, for any
of the following causes:
(a) That the precinct board or any member thereof was guilty of
malconduct.
(b) That the person who has been declared elected to an office was
not, at the time of the election, eligible to that office.
(c) That the defendant has given to any elector or member of a
precinct board any bribe or reward, or has offered any bribe or
reward for the purpose of procuring his election, or has committed
any other offense against the elective franchise defined in Division
18 (commencing with Section 18000).
(d) That illegal votes were cast.
(e) That eligible voters who attempted to vote in accordance with
the laws of the state were denied their right to vote.
(f) That the precinct board in conducting the election or in
canvassing the returns, made errors sufficient to change the result
of the election as to any person who has been declared elected.
(g) That there was an error in the vote-counting programs or
summation of ballot counts.
Any candidate at a primary election may contest the right of
another candidate to nomination to the same office by filing an
affidavit alleging any of the following grounds, that:
(a) The defendant is not eligible to the office in dispute.
(b) The defendant has committed any offense against the elective
franchise defined in Division 18 (commencing with Section 18000).
(c) A sufficient number of votes were illegal, fraudulent, forged,
or otherwise improper, and that had those votes not been counted,
the defendant would not have received as many votes as the
contestant.
(d) A sufficient number of eligible voters who attempted to vote
in accordance with the laws of the state were denied their right to
vote, and that had those voters been permitted to vote, the defendant
would not have received as many votes as the contestant.
(e) Due to mistake, error, or misconduct the votes in any precinct
were so incorrectly counted as to change the result.