Terms Used In California Codes > Elections Code > Division 14 > Chapter 3 - Procedures at Polls

• action taken: means a collective decision made by a majority of the members of a legislative body, a collective commitment or promise by a majority of the members of a legislative body to make a positive or a negative decision, or an actual vote by a majority of the members of a legislative body when sitting as a body or entity, upon a motion, proposal, resolution, order or ordinance. See California Government Code 54952.6
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• adverse action: means dismissal, demotion, suspension, or other disciplinary action. See California Government Code 19570
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• agreement: means the total legal obligation that results from the parties' agreement as determined by this code and as supplemented by any other applicable laws. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• assessed value: means 25 percent of full value to, and including, the 1980-81 fiscal year, and 100 percent of full value for the 1981-82 fiscal year and fiscal years thereafter. See California Government Code 25
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bag limit: means the maximum limit, in number or amount, of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, or amphibians that may lawfully be taken by any one person during a specified period of time. See California Fish and Game Code 18
• Bailee: means a person that by a warehouse receipt, bill of lading, or other document of title acknowledges possession of goods and contracts to deliver them. See California Commercial Code 7102
• Ballot card: means a card or a number of cards upon which are printed, or identified by reference to the ballot, the names of candidates for nomination or election to one or more offices or the ballot titles of one or more measures. See California Elections Code 302
• Bank: means a person engaged in the business of banking, and includes a savings bank, savings and loan association, credit union, and trust company. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bearer: means a person in possession of a negotiable instrument, document of title, or certificated security that is payable to bearer or endorsed in blank. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Bill of lading: means a document evidencing the receipt of goods for shipment issued by a person engaged in the business of transporting or forwarding goods. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Board: means the State Public Works Board. See California Government Code 15802
• Board: means the Board of Psychology. See California Business and Professions Code 2902
• board: means the California State Board of Optometry. See California Business and Professions Code 3004
• Bonds: means bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness issued by a local agency pursuant to Part 2 (commencing with Section 55100) of this division, including bonds issued to refund previously issued bonds or other indebtedness. See California Health and Safety Code 55001
• Branch: includes a separately incorporated foreign branch of a bank. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Buy: includes an offer to buy, purchase, barter, exchange, or trade. See California Fish and Game Code 24
• Buyer in ordinary course of business: means a person that buys goods in good faith, without knowledge that the sale violates the rights of another person in the goods, and in the ordinary course from a person, other than a pawnbroker, in the business of selling goods of that kind. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Carrier: means a person that issues a bill of lading. See California Commercial Code 7102
• Clerk: means the county elections official, registrar of voters, city clerk, or other officer or board charged with the duty of conducting any election. See California Elections Code 307
• coin dealer: means any person, firm, partnership, or corporation whose principal business is the buying, selling, and trading of coins, monetized bullion, or commercial grade ingots of gold, or silver, or other precious metals. See California Business and Professions Code 21626
• Commercial grade ingots: means 0. See California Business and Professions Code 21627
• Consignor: means a person named in a bill of lading as the person from which the goods have been received for shipment. See California Commercial Code 7102
• Construction: includes the extension, enlargement, repair, renovation, restoration, improvement, furnishing, and equipping of any public building. See California Government Code 15802
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• contract: means the bargain of the parties in fact, as found in their language or inferred from other circumstances, including course of performance, course of dealing, or usage of trade as provided in Section 1303. See California Commercial Code 1201
• County: includes city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 14
• County: includes "city and county. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
• County: includes "city and county. See California Public Resources Code 14
• County: includes city and county. See California Family Code 67
• Creditor: includes a general creditor, a secured creditor, a lien creditor, and any representative of creditors, including an assignee for the benefit of creditors, a trustee in bankruptcy, a receiver in equity, and an executor or administrator of an insolvent debtor's or assignor's estate. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Day: means calendar day, and "week" means calendar week. See California Fish and Game Code 35
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Delivery order: means a record that contains an order to deliver goods directed to a warehouse, carrier, or other person that in the ordinary course of business issues warehouse receipts or bills of lading. See California Commercial Code 7102
• Department: means the Department of Food and Agriculture. See California Food and Agricultural Code 32
• Director: means "State Director of Health Services. See California Health and Safety Code 21
• Disability: means a medical condition, mental disability, or physical disability, as those terms are defined in subdivisions (i), (j), and (l) of §. See California Elections Code 354.5
• Discuss among themselves: means communications made, posted, or shared on an internet-based social media platform between members of a legislative body, including comments or use of digital icons that express reactions to communications made by other members of the legislative body. See California Government Code 54952.2
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Document of title: includes a bill of lading, dock warrant, dock receipt, warehouse receipt, or order for the delivery of goods, and also any other document which in the regular course of business or financing is treated as adequately evidencing that the person in possession of it is entitled to receive, hold, and dispose of the document and the goods it covers. See California Commercial Code 1201
• 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

• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Eligible building: means a building existing on the effective date of this section which is identified as hazardous pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 19160) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 13, with the exception of the following:

  California Health and Safety Code 55001

• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Faculty diversity: means the representation of faculty members from different racial, ethnic, gender, and disability groups, and other underrepresented groups. See California Education Code 87890
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Federal election: means any presidential election, general election, primary election, or special election held solely or in part for the purpose of selecting, nominating, or electing any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the United States Senate, or Member of the United States House of Representatives. See California Elections Code 323
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financing: means a loan made by the local agency pursuant to this division to the owner of an eligible building for eligible costs and which is secured by a deed of trust or mortgage upon the real property improved thereby. See California Health and Safety Code 55001
• FTES: means full-time equivalent students. See California Education Code 87890
• Full-time faculty: means a faculty member who is employed by a community college on a full-time basis and teaches more than a 67-percent load. See California Education Code 87890
• Fungible goods: means :

  California Commercial Code 1201

• General election: means either of the following:

  California Elections Code 324

• Good faith: means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing. See California Commercial Code 7102
• Goods: means all things that are treated as movable for the purposes of a contract for storage or transportation. See California Commercial Code 7102
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Holder: means :

  California Commercial Code 1201

• individual with a disability: means any individual who has a physical or mental disability as defined in Section 12926. See California Government Code 19231
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Internet-based social media platform: means an online service that is open and accessible to the public. See California Government Code 54952.2
• Issuer: means a bailee that issues a document of title or, in the case of an unaccepted delivery order, the person that orders the possessor of goods to deliver. See California Commercial Code 7102
• junk: means any and all secondhand and used machinery and all ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals and alloys, including any and all secondhand and used furniture, pallets, or other personal property, other than livestock, or parts or portions thereof. See California Business and Professions Code 21600
• junk dealer: includes any person engaged in the business of buying, selling and dealing in junk, any person purchasing, gathering, collecting, soliciting or traveling about from place to place procuring junk, and any person operating, carrying on, conducting or maintaining a junk yard or place where junk is gathered together and stored or kept for shipment, sale or transfer. See California Business and Professions Code 21601
• junk yard: includes any yard, plot, space, inclosure, building or any other place where junk is collected, stored, gathered together and kept. See California Business and Professions Code 21602
• Jurisprudence: The study of law and the structure of the legal system.
• legislative body: means :

  California Government Code 54952

• Licensed psychologist: means an individual to whom a license has been issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, which license is in force and has not been suspended or revoked. See California Business and Professions Code 2902
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Local agency: means a city, county, or city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 55001
• local agency: means a county, city, whether general law or chartered, city and county, town, school district, municipal corporation, district, political subdivision, or any board, commission or agency thereof, or other local public agency. See California Government Code 54951
• Measure: means any constitutional amendment or other proposition submitted to a popular vote at any election. See California Elections Code 329
• meeting: means any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body at the same time and location, including teleconference location as permitted by Section 54953, to hear, discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. See California Government Code 54952.2
• Money: means a medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government. See California Commercial Code 1201
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Nonresident: means a person who is not a resident as defined in Section 70. See California Fish and Game Code 57
• oil sump: is a ny open depression or basin in the ground, whether manmade or natural, which contains oil or a combination of oil and water. See California Public Resources Code 3780
• Open and accessible to the public: means that members of the general public have the ability to access and participate, free of charge, in the social media platform without the approval by the social media platform or a person or entity other than the social media platform, including any forum and chatroom, and cannot be blocked from doing so, except when the internet-based social media platform determines that an individual violated its protocols or rules. See California Government Code 54952.2
• optometrist: means a person who is licensed to practice optometry in this state under the authority of this chapter. See California Business and Professions Code 3003
• order: include a decree, as appropriate under the circumstances. See California Family Code 100
• Organization: means a person other than an individual. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Party: means a political party or organization that has qualified for participation in any primary or presidential general election. See California Elections Code 338
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Person: includes a natural person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or public entity. See California Family Code 105
• place of practice: means any location where optometry is practiced. See California Business and Professions Code 3005
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Polling place: means a location where a voter casts a ballot and includes the following terms, as applicable: poll, polling location, and vote center. See California Elections Code 338.5
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Precinct: means a geographical area within a county that is made up of voters and is formed pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12200) of Division 12. See California Elections Code 338.6
• precinct board: means the board appointed by the elections official to serve at a vote center. See California Elections Code 339
• Precinct board member: is a member of the precinct board and includes an election officer. See California Elections Code 339
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Primary election: includes all primary nominating elections provided for by this code. See California Elections Code 341
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Proceeding: includes an action. See California Family Code 110
• property: includes property real and personal. See California Civil Code 14
• Property: includes real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Family Code 113
• Public building: includes any structure, building, facility, or work that a state agency has jurisdiction of, or is authorized to design or construct, including, but not limited to, infrastructure, parking lots, landscaping, and other ancillary facilities, including furnishings and equipment, incidental to the use of any building, and also includes the site thereof, and any easements or rights of way appurtenant thereto or necessary for its full use. See California Government Code 15802
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Punching: includes marking a ballot card to record a vote. See California Elections Code 345
• Purchase: means taking by sale, lease, discount, negotiation, mortgage, pledge, lien, security interest, issue or reissue, gift, or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest in property. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Purchaser: means a person that takes by purchase. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Resident: means any person who has resided continuously in the State of California for six months or more immediately prior to the date of application for a license or permit, any person on active military duty with the Armed Forces of the United States or auxiliary branch thereof, or any person enrolled in the Job Corps established pursuant to former Section 2883 of Title 29 of the United States Code. See California Fish and Game Code 70
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Right: includes remedy. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Roster: means the official list of voters for an election, which may be in paper or electronic form. See California Elections Code 349.5
• secondhand dealer: as used in this article , means and includes any person, copartnership, firm, or corporation whose business includes buying, selling, trading, taking in pawn, accepting for sale on consignment, accepting for auctioning, or auctioning secondhand tangible personal property. See California Business and Professions Code 21626
• Security interest: includes any interest of a consignor and a buyer of accounts, chattel paper, a payment intangible, or a promissory note in a transaction that is subject to Division 9 (commencing with Section 9101). See California Commercial Code 1201
• Sell: includes offer for sale, expose for sale, possess for sale, exchange, barter, or trade. See California Food and Agricultural Code 44
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Signature: includes either of the following:

  California Elections Code 354.5

• significant class of stolen goods: means those items determined through the Department of Justice's most recent OpenJustice Web portal update to constitute more than 10 percent of property reported stolen in the calendar year preceding the annual posting of the list of significant classes of stolen goods. See California Business and Professions Code 21627
• Spousal support: means support of the spouse of the obligor. See California Family Code 142
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Business and Professions Code 14.2
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by Section 297. See California Family Code 143
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Commercial Code 1201
• State: includes the District of Columbia and the territories when applied to the different parts of the United States, and the words "United States" may include the district and territories. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, or a commonwealth, territory, or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Family Code 145
• State Board of Optometry: shall be deemed to refer to the "California State Board of Optometry. See California Business and Professions Code 3004
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Support: refers to a support obligation owing on behalf of a child, spouse, or family, or an amount owing pursuant to Section 17402. See California Family Code 150
• Support order: means a judgment or order of support in favor of an obligee, whether temporary or final, or subject to modification, termination, or remission, regardless of the kind of action or proceeding in which it is entered. See California Family Code 155
• tangible personal property: means all secondhand tangible personal property that bears a serial number or personalized initials or inscription or that, at the time it is acquired by the secondhand dealer, bears evidence of having had a serial number or personalized initials or inscription. See California Business and Professions Code 21627
• Term: means a portion of an agreement that relates to a particular matter. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Vote center: means a location established for holding elections that offers the services described in Sections 2170 and 4005. See California Elections Code 357.5
• Voter: means any elector who is registered under this code. See California Elections Code 359
• Voter list: means the list of registered voters in a single or consolidated precinct or in an entire county. See California Elections Code 359.2
• 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 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
• Warehouse: means a person engaged in the business of storing goods for hire. See California Commercial Code 7102
• Warehouse receipt: means a receipt issued by a person engaged in the business of storing goods for hire. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writing: includes printing, typewriting, or any other intentional reduction to tangible form. See California Commercial Code 1201