Full Notification

As we approach the election, we would like to remind everyone of a few election related laws from the California Elections Code (see below).  For information about how to vote in Berkeley, visit the City’s website (https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Voter_Services.aspx).
 
Intimidation of Voters –CA Elections Code 18540 -18543

• No person shall threaten to make use of any force, violence, or tactic of coercion or intimidation to induce or compel any other person to vote or refrain from voting at any election.
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for 16 months to two or three years.

• Any person in possession of a firearm or any uniformed peace officer, private guard, or security personnel who is stationed in the immediate vicinity of a polling place without written authorization of the appropriate city or county elections official is prohibited. Section 18545 applies to any individual who arranges or hires an individual similarly described in Section 18544. This section shall not apply to a voting uniformed peace officer or a uniformed police officer conducting official business.
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment for two, three, or four years.

• No person, on election day, within 100 feet of a polling place, circulate an initiative, solicit a vote, place a sign relating to voters’ qualifications, or speak to a voter on the subject of his or her qualifications.  
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.

• No person, during an election, shall remove tear, mark, deface or destroy; any of the supplies in the voting booths, instruction cards printed for voters, or signs identifying the location of the polling place or identifying areas within 100 feet of a polling place. 
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.

• No person shall interfere with the officers holding an election, or with the voters lawfully exercising their rights of voting at an election, as to prevent the election or canvass from being fairly held and lawfully conducted.
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for 16 months to two or three years.

• No person, during an election, shall pay or receive money or other valuable consideration in order to reward any person or as a reward for voting.
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for 16 months to two or three years.

• A person shall not interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, the correct operation of any voting system, or components, the secrecy of voting software programs, possess a key to a voting machine without authorization, or substitute forged ore counterfeit ballot tally software program source codes.
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment for two, three, or four years.

• A person shall not, without having been appointed and qualified, act as an election official or perform any of the duties of an election officer regarding the handling, counting or canvassing of any ballots.
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment for two, three, or four years.

• Providing any unauthorized or non-official vote-by-mail ballot drop box, whether or not it is identified as “official” or “unofficial, may constitute a violation of Elections Code section 18575.
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment for two, three, or four years.

• No person shall commit, through intent to mislead, deceive, or defraud, an act of political cyberfraud.
• Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for 16 months to two or three years. Political cyberfraud includes, but is not limited to, any of the following acts:
  1. Intentionally diverting or redirecting access to a political Web site to another person’s Internet Web site using a similar domain name, meta-tags, or other electronic measures.
  2. Intentionally preventing or denying exit from a political Web site using frames, hyperlinks, mousetrapping, popup screens, or other electronic measures.
  3. Registering a domain name that is similar to another domain name for a political Web site.
  4. Intentionally preventing the use of a domain name for a political Web site by registering and holding the domain name or by reselling it to another with the intent of preventing its use, or both.