Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, § 20124 - Public Observation and Verification of Audit

(a) The elections official shall ensure that the audit process is observable and verifiable by the public. The elections official shall:

(1) Provide at least five days public notice prior to the first phase of the RLA. This notice shall include the time and place of the random seed generation described in section 20120 and the date the ballot cards will be retrieved and manually examined.

(2) Describe in writing the process of manually examining ballot cards and the selection of the ballot cards to be used in the audit.

(3) Provide observers with an oral and/or written explanation of the RLA process, a written code of conduct for observation, and any documentation they will need for informed and effective observation.

(A) The code of conduct for observation shall be determined by the elections official. The code of conduct for observation shall explain the rights and responsibilities of observers.

(B) Documentation needed for informed and effective observation shall include but not be limited to any data the audit relies upon, including:

(i) The ballot manifest;

(ii) For ballot-level comparison audits, the cast vote records;

(iii) For batch comparison audits, vote totals from each contest being audited for each batch; and

(iv) For hybrid audits, all vote subtotals or cast vote records that were exported pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (j) of Section 20111.

(4) Disclose the methods used to select samples and to calculate the risk.

(5) Provide the public the opportunity to observe ballot cards being retrieved and examined during the audit.

(6) Provide the public the opportunity to observe the voters' marks on every audited ballot card during the audit.

(b) Observers may ask questions of the audit board, provided they do not interfere with the conduct of the audit. The elections official, at their discretion, may designate an alternate person to receive and respond to observer questions in lieu of the audit board, and this person shall confer with the audit board to obtain answers to questions to which this person does not know the answers.

Notes

Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, § 20124

1. New section filed 3-5-2020; operative 3-5-2020 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2020, No. 10).
2. Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-34-20 (2019 CA EO 34-20), dated March 20, 2020, which extended certain deadlines relating to the presidential primary and special general elections, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Amendment of section and NOTE filed 12-9-2021; operative 12-9-2021 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2021, No. 50).

Note: Authority cited: Section 12172.5, Government Code; and Section 15367, Elections Code. Reference: Section 15367, Elections Code.

1. New section filed 3-5-2020; operative 3/5/2020 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2020, No. 10).
2. Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-34-20 (2019 CA EO 34-20), dated March 20, 2020, which extended certain deadlines relating to the presidential primary and special general elections, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Amendment of section and Note filed 12-9-2021; operative 12/9/2021 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2021, No. 50).