Section 8106 Of Article 6. Nomination Papers. Place Of Filing. Fees From California Elections Code >> Division 8. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 1. >> Article 6.
8106
. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, a
candidate may submit a petition containing signatures of registered
voters in lieu of a filing fee as follows:
(1) For the office of California State Assembly, 1,500 signatures.
(2) For the office of California State Senate and the United
States House of Representatives, 3,000 signatures.
(3) For candidates running for statewide office, 10,000
signatures.
(4) For all other offices for which a filing fee is required, if
the number of registered voters in the district in which he or she
seeks nomination is 2,000 or more, a candidate may submit a petition
containing four signatures of registered voters for each dollar of
the filing fee, or 10 percent of the total of registered voters in
the district in which he or she seeks nomination, whichever is less.
(5) For all other offices for which a filing fee is required, if
the number of registered voters in the district in which he or she
seeks nomination is less than 2,000, a candidate may submit a
petition containing four signatures of registered voters for each
dollar of the filing fee, or 20 percent of the total of registered
voters in the district in which he or she seeks nomination, whichever
is less.
(6) A voter may sign both a candidate's nomination papers and his
or her in-lieu-filing-fee petition. However, if signatures appearing
on the documents are counted towards both the nomination paper and
the in-lieu-filing-fee petition signature requirements, a person may
only sign one of the documents.
(b) The Secretary of State or an elections official shall furnish
to each candidate, upon request, and without charge therefor, forms
for securing signatures. The number of forms which the elections
official shall furnish a candidate shall be a quantity that provides
the candidates with spaces for signatures sufficient in number to
equal the number of signatures that the candidate is required to
secure pursuant to subdivision (a) if the candidate desires that
number of forms. However, the elections official, rather than provide
the candidate with the number of forms set forth in the preceding
sentence, or upon the request of a candidate, may provide the
candidate with a master form that may be duplicated by the candidate
at the candidate's expense for the purpose of circulating additional
petitions. The Secretary of State shall provide the master form. The
elections official may provide candidates a form other than the
master form provided by the Secretary of State. However, that form
shall meet all statutory requirements, and the elections official
shall also make available and accept the master form provided by the
Secretary of State. All forms shall be made available commencing 45
days before the first day for circulating nomination papers. However,
in cases of vacancies for which a special election is authorized or
required to be held to fill the vacancy, and where the prescribed
nomination period would commence less than 45 days after the creation
of the vacancy, the forms shall be made available within five
working days after the creation of the vacancy. No other form except
the form furnished by the Secretary of State or the elections
official or forms duplicated from a master form shall be used to
secure signatures. Each petition section shall bear an affidavit
signed by the circulator, in substantially the same form as set forth
in Section 8041. The substitution of signatures for fees shall be
subject to the following provisions:
(1) Any registered voter may sign an in-lieu-filing-fee petition
for any candidate for whom he or she is eligible to vote.
(2) If a voter signs more candidates' petitions than there are
offices to be filled, the voter's signatures shall be valid only on
those petitions which, taken in the order they were filed, do not
exceed the number of offices to be filled.
(3) In-lieu-filing-fee petitions shall be filed at least 15 days
prior to the close of the nomination period. Upon receipt of the
minimum number of in-lieu-filing-fee signatures required, or a
sufficient combination of signatures and pro rata filing fee, the
elections official shall issue nomination papers provisionally.
Within 10 days after receipt of a petition, the elections official
shall notify the candidate of any deficiency. The candidate shall
then, prior to the close of the nomination period, either submit a
supplemental petition, or pay a pro rata portion of the filing fee to
cover the deficiency.
(4) If the petition is circulated for an office in more than one
county, the candidate shall submit the signatures to the elections
official in the county in which the petition was circulated. The
elections official shall, at least two days after verifying the
signatures on the petition, notify the Secretary of State of the
total number of valid signatures. If the number of signatures is
insufficient, the Secretary of State shall notify the candidate and
the elections officials of the fact. The candidate may submit the
necessary number of valid signatures at any time prior to the close
of the period for circulating nomination papers. Each circulator
shall meet the requirements of Section 102.
(5) Each candidate may submit a greater number of signatures to
allow for subsequent losses due to invalidity of some signatures. The
elections official shall not be required to determine the validity
of a greater number of signatures than that required by this section.
(c) For the purposes of this section, the requisite number of
signatures shall be computed from the latest registration figures
forwarded to the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 2187 prior to
the first day on which petitions are available.
(d) All valid signatures obtained pursuant to this section shall
be counted toward the number of voters required to sign a nomination
paper in accordance with Section 8061 or 8405.