(a) The Secretary of State, Attorney General, and any local elections official in the county in which the act occurs, may bring a civil action against an individual, business, or other legal entity that commits any of the following acts before, during, or after an election:

(1) Tampers, interferes, or attempts to interfere with the correct operation of, or willfully damages in order to prevent the use of, any voting machine, voting device, voting system, vote tabulating device, or ballot tally software.

Terms Used In California Elections Code 18564.5

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Election: means any election including a primary that is provided for under this code. See California Elections Code 318
  • Elections official: means any of the following:

    California Elections Code 320

  • Software: includes all programs, voting devices, cards, ballot cards or papers, operating manuals or instructions, test procedures, printouts, and other nonmechanical or nonelectrical items necessary to the operation of a voting system. See California Elections Code 355
  • Vote tabulating device: means any piece of equipment, other than a voting machine, that compiles a total of votes cast by means of ballot card sorting, ballot card reading, paper ballot scanning, electronic data processing, or a combination of that type of equipment. See California Elections Code 358
  • Voting device: means any device used in conjunction with a ballot card or cards to indicate the choice of the voter by marking, punching, or slotting the ballot card. See California Elections Code 360
  • Voting machine: means any electronic device, including, but not limited to, a precinct optical scanner and a direct recording voting system, into which a voter may enter his or her votes, and which, by means of electronic tabulation and generation of printouts or other tangible, human-readable records, furnishes a total of the number of votes cast for each candidate and for or against each measure. See California Elections Code 361
  • Voting system: means a mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic system and its software, or any combination of these used for casting a ballot, tabulating votes, or both. See California Elections Code 362

(2) Interferes or attempts to interfere with the secrecy of voting or interferes or attempts to interfere with ballot tally software program source codes.

(3) Knowingly, and without authorization, gains access to or provides another person or persons with access to a voting machine for the purpose of committing one of the acts specified by this section.

(4) Willfully substitutes or attempts to substitute forged, counterfeit, or malicious ballot tally software program source codes.

(5) Knowingly, and without authorization, inserts or causes the insertion of uncertified hardware, software, or firmware, for whatever purpose, into any voting machine, voting device, voting system, vote tabulating device, or ballot tally software.

(6) Fails to notify the Secretary of State prior to any change in hardware, software, or firmware to a voting machine, voting device, voting system, or vote tabulating device, certified or conditionally certified for use in this state.

(b) A civil action may be brought pursuant to this section for a civil penalty not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for each act and for injunctive relief, if appropriate.

(Added by Stats. 2004, Ch. 813, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2005.)

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