Section 20313 - Selection of Ballots for Manual Tally(a) The elections official shall select precincts and batches of vote-by-mail ballots for the one percent manual tally independent of both the voting system and the election management system.(b) The elections official shall use one of the following methods to randomly select precincts and batches of vote-by-mail ballots for the one percent manual tally: (1) The elections official creates one identical, labeled object such as a slip of paper or ball for each item (precinct or batch of vote-by-mail ballots) to tally; places all of these items into a container; shuffles those items within the container; and then draws items one after the other until all required tally items are selected. Example: There are 123 possible precincts to select from. The elections official labels 123 table tennis balls with an identifier for each precinct and then places these balls into a large hopper. The elections official shakes the hopper for one minute to ensure the balls have been sufficiently shuffled. The elections official then reaches in and randomly grabs one ball to identify a precinct. The elections official then draws another ball, and so on.(2) The elections official creates a list of precincts and batches of vote-by-mail ballots; sequentially numbers that list; and then identifies which item (precinct or batch of vote-by-mail ballots) to tally, by utilizing one of the following methods: (A) Using a random number generator configured to return only numbers represented on that sequential list. Use the random number generator to identify all required tally items. Example: There are 123 possible precincts to select from. The elections official uses the "randbetween()" function in Microsoft Excel to identify a random number between 1 and 123. The elections official relates this number to the precinct in the list. The elections official refreshes this function to identify another random number, and so on.(B) Rolling one or more fair 10-sided dice to identify each digit of the sequential number, starting with the highest value (left-most) digit. For any die roll that returns a number higher than one available for that digit, the elections official shall re-roll the die for that digit before proceeding to the next digit. Repeat this process for any additional tally item. Example: There are 123 possible precincts to select from. The elections official first rolls a die for the hundreds place digit, rolling until they get the number 0 or 1. They proceed to roll for the tens place digit and then the ones place digit. When that process is complete, they begin new die rolls to identify a second precinct to tally, and so on.(C) Identifying each digit of a sequential number by randomly drawing one numbered object such as a slip of paper for each digit, starting with the highest value (left-most) digit. Repeat this process for any additional tally item. Example: There are 123 possible precincts to select from. The elections official first identifies the hundreds place digit by drawing from two slips of paper labeled 0 and 1. They proceed to pull slips of paper for the tens place digit and then the ones place digit. When that process is complete, they start the process over to identify a second precinct to tally, and so on.(D) Placing this list into computerized spreadsheet software; assigning a random number next to each item using a function in that spreadsheet tool; sorting those randomly assigned numbers in either ascending or descending order; and then selecting items starting at the top until the requisite number of items is identified. Example: A list of 123 precincts is added to Microsoft Excel by placing each precinct on in its own cell in sequential rows. The elections official uses Excel's randbetween() function to assign a random number greater than or equal to 0 and less than 1 next to each cell. The elections official converts these random numbers to static text so that they will not change when the list is sorted. The elections official sorts these now-static random numbers, along with the precincts in the neighboring cells, in descending order. The elections official selects the top two items in this sorted list.(c) If the elections official, at their discretion, selects additional precincts, batches, or contest(s) beyond the one percent manual tally, they shall do so after randomly identifying ballots to tally. The elections official may not use this discretionary selection to identify one percent of precincts or batches of vote-by-mail ballots in lieu of any portion of the random selection.Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 2, § 20313
Note: Authority cited: Section 12172.5, Government Code; and Section 15360, Elections Code. Reference: Section 15360, Elections Code.
1. New section filed 6-27-2024; operative 6/27/2024 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2024, No. 26).