SECTIONS 19220-19223 - California Statutes

ELECTIONS CODE

SECTION 19220-19223

19220. The elections official of any county or city using voting or
vote tabulating equipment shall inspect the machines or devices at
least once every two years to determine their accuracy. Any county or
city using leased or rented equipment shall determine if the
equipment has been inspected for accuracy within the last two years
before using it for any election. The inspection shall be made in
accordance with regulations adopted and promulgated by the Secretary
of State. The elections official shall certify the results of the
inspection to the Secretary of State.

19221. If the Secretary of State has reason to believe that a local
inspection of equipment is not adequate, he or she may cause the
equipment to be reexamined, at any time prior to six months before a
statewide election, to insure that they tabulate votes accurately.
For the purpose of reexamining voting equipment the Secretary of
State may employ not more than three expert technicians at a cost to
be determined by the Secretary of State. The compensation of the
technicians shall be paid by the county using the equipment examined.
The Secretary of State may make all arrangements for the time and
place to examine the voting equipment, and shall furnish a complete
report of the findings of the examining engineers to the Governor, to
the Attorney General, to each county elections official, to the
chairmen of the elections committees of the Assembly and Senate, and
to the manufacturer of the equipment.

19222. The Secretary of State shall review voting systems
periodically to determine if they are defective, obsolete, or
otherwise unacceptable. The Secretary of State has the right to
withdraw his or her approval previously granted under this chapter of
any voting system or part of a voting system should it be defective
or prove unacceptable after such review. Six months' notice shall be
given before withdrawing approval unless the Secretary of State for
good cause shown makes a determination that a shorter notice period
is necessary. Any withdrawal by the Secretary of State of his or her
previous approval of a voting system or part of a voting system shall
not be effective as to any election conducted within six months of
that withdrawal.

19223. The Secretary of State shall conduct random audits of the
software installed on direct recording electronic voting systems, as
defined in Section 19251, to ensure that the installed software is
identical to the software that has been approved for use on that
voting system. The Secretary of State shall take steps to ensure that
the process for conducting random audits does not intentionally
cause a direct recording electronic voting system to become more
vulnerable to any unauthorized changes to the software that has been
approved for its use.